


Luck of the Fox (Sequel to Royal Wounded Warrior)

by FireflySummerwynd



Category: Guns N' Roses, Poison (US Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Pagan, Shifter, Zorro - Freeform, neko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:09:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 51,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22054588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflySummerwynd/pseuds/FireflySummerwynd
Summary: Life after the loss of his mate and husband of nearly three decades wasn't easy for Poison bassist Bobby Dall at first. He'd to learn how to live without the Cat he felt he'd been robbed of so much Time with when he passed on easily only halfway through his Lifetime, not to mention figure out how to be a single parent after having never been such.But finding out he'd a second mate–generally a rarity amongst Nekos and Zorros alike–certainly helped with that. Enter GN'R bassist Duff McKagan, the blonde giant of an Irishman he'd been friends with for as long as he'd known his late husband, give or take.Finding out they were mated since Duff already had a steady relationship and family of his own was definitely hard, but they managed to find a Balance–one that even included a surprise kit. Said kit wasn't the only surprise, though–there were plenty more of those, right down to the blonde bassist's very heritage, and it went deeper than just having Witchcraft in his veins. Many'd say that such things were just strokes of dumb Luck, and maybe that's true for this unique couple–or more aptly, Love triangle. Forget the Luck of the Irish–this is all about the Luck of the Fox.
Relationships: Bobby Dall/Duff McKagan, Duff McKagan/Susan McKagan
Kudos: 1





	1. One

_November, 2018_

_Santa Rosa Valley, California_

Not quite thirteen months after the Death of his husband, former Marine and Mötley Crüe co-founder and bassist Nikki Sixx, another bassist was snuggled up in his new favorite place in the World. The bassist of Poison–who’d also helped co-found his band–Bobby Dall certainly missed the man he’d been with for less than a month shy of thirty Years. But as much as he missed his late husband, he’d something equally big to be thankful for, considering that it was a rare event.

About four months before the older brunette’d passed on due to something called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, he’d found out that he was also mated to long-Time friend and fellow bassist, Duff McKagan. It’d come as a surprise to all of them, but none more so than the youngest and lone blonde bassist in the group. Then again, they’d all known each other for roughly three decades–they’d like to’ve thought they’d notice such a thing Ages ago. Considering they hadn’t, both surviving bassists wondered if it was just ’cuz the Universe’d been waiting to Enlighten them when it’d known the slightly older bassist’d need to be aware of such a thing most.

Life without Nikki by his side for upwards of a Century like he shoulda been due to both Neko _and_ Zorro Nature’d certainly been hard to adjust to. The first couple months, Bobby hadn’t been able to sleep without being able to catch his late husband’s scent–or at least, a mimicking of it. Spraying his pillow with things that smelled like Chocolate and Cinnamon hadn’t quite been the same, but it’d helped.

It’d taken him till January–and after he’d gotten settled in his new house back Stateside–to be able to turn to his younger mate for more than just cuddles. Part of him’d wanted to the Night they’d put the oldest bassist’s ashes in the ground between his grandparents, but he’d known it simply wasn’t the right Time. That’d only been three Days after his Death, and he’d known that Duff might think he was just using him as a rebound, of sorts. As much as he hated to admit it when he looked back on it, he prolly woulda been using him kinda like that, but with the Intent to stick around long after he’d Healed.

_“Hmm…mmmph.”_ Bobby grimaced, a hand cupping his belly as an all-too-familiar pain gripped his torso.

_“Mmm,_ Bobby–ya okay?” His younger mate’s voice was rough and gritty from just waking up as he squirmed behind him.

“Just…stay still,” he managed to groan. “Don’t…make me…move.”

Duff simply nodded and stayed quiet, not even daring to move his arm where it was draped across his waist.

“Fuck, I’d forgotten how much this hurts,” the older bassist whimpered as the pain started to fade.

“Wait, it’s Time?” His mate sat up more, clearly starting to go into what he’d call a _prenatal panic_.

“Duff, just breathe,” he chuckled, gently rubbing his belly. “Don’t go giving yourself a panic attack when I’ma need ya later.”

“Hey, ya can’t really blame me,” the younger bassist huffed, trying to regulate his breathing. “Ya know I’ve had panic attacks since I was a teenager.”

“And I’ve been through this plenty of Times without it killing me,” Bobby told him with a smile. “Sirena’s gonna make sure I survive, even if she’s to use her magick like a defibrillator on me.”

“No letting ya join Nikki prematurely when this booger’s gonna need ya, huh?” he chuckled, finally giving his belly a gentle rub.

Shaking his head, the older bassist managed to roll so he was somewhere between his back and his side.

He’d been surprised when he found out that he was expecting his ninth kit–Duff’s third–but it was a surprise of the best kind. Sure, finding out that news was a lil bittersweet for him, ’cuz the only other one who’d ever impregnated him before was now in the ground. But at the same Time, it allowed him to pave a new road with equally good memories, just with another first mate at his side. Or maybe he should be saying his own first mate since everybody knew that Nikki’d been the captain of their ship.

Bobby gratefully accepted the blonde’s help in sitting up, his belly just a bit too swollen with his pregnancy to make such a feat easy for him. He didn’t show nearly as much as most pregnant beings did for a few different reasons, but he still had trouble doing some things once he _did_ start showing. Sitting up on his own and bending down weren’t as easy as they normally were, even if they weren’t as hard as they’d be for someone like his mate’s wife, Susan. Other than anything that involved the use of his core muscles, he could manage pretty well on his own, even with a hellacious backache.

Once he was outta bed, Duff headed for the closet they shared in his house while he waddled off to the bathroom. He knew his mate enjoyed his privacy for certain things and that he’d call out, if he needed him, so he decided to grab him some comfy clothes. While a bit faded from being roughly twenty Years old, his memories of when his wife was in labor could prove useful now.

When the older bassist Returned from the bathroom, he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he saw the clothes laid out on the foot of their bed. His mate’d chosen well for him when he picked a pair of PJ britches that’d an adjustable drawstring and a tank top. In fact, he hadn’t even bothered with pulling out a pair of boxers for him, apparently having doubted he’d want them. Bobby chuckled as he thought about just how right he was, ’cuz while the use of boxers was decently rare this late in pregnancy, it was completely unheard of once he started going into labor. It was simply easier on him, if he wasn’t constantly fighting with the aforementioned undergarment while in agony.

_“Oooh,”_ he winced, grabbing the bedpost that towered over his head.

“Another one?” Duff asked, stepping outta their closet just in Time to see that and him start rubbing his belly again.

_“Mmm…hmm,”_ the older bassist hummed, nodding as he focused on breathing.

“I’m guessing we’re heading to the hospital after this?” he asked, gently rubbing the other side of his belly.

_“No…hospital,”_ Bobby ground out between gritted teeth, groaning as the contraction reached its peak.

“Wait, but–Bobby, you’re going into labor!” the younger bassist argued as gently as he could.

“I said… _no…hospital,”_ he repeated with a growl.

Duff started to protest again, only to get cut off by a familiar Serene voice.

“Don’t try to sway him from a Path he’s Traveled before, child,” Sirena said as she appeared in their bedroom.

“Wait, what?” he asked, confused.

“Ya didn’t think he’s given Birth in a hospital any other Time, did ya?” the Elvin woman giggled.

“Well, yeah,” the younger bassist said, sounding confused. “I mean, that’s what most people do when they’ve a child.”

“Key word there _most,”_ she told him with a grin. “You’ve to remember that Bobby’s a Zorro.”

“Doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get professional help with something like this,” Duff shot back.

“Child, I’m more of a professional than most of the quacks at any hospital for miles,” Sirena scoffed with an eye-roll. “I’ve been practicing the Art of Midwifery since I was but sixteen, and that was over a Millennium ago.”

Bobby couldn’t help a soft laugh as he watched his mate’s eyes bug out in shock. “I forgot that we never told ya how old she and Rikki are, hon.”

“My husband’s a full Millennium older than Nikki, having turned eleven hundred and sixty-eight on the eighth of this month,” the Elvin woman revealed. “I’m but four Years younger than my husband.”

“Meaning that she’s more experience than every doctor at Cedars-Sinai put together,” he chuckled as he cupped his mate’s cheek. “Besides, she’s helped me with hard deliveries before–Rikki, too, for that matter. If there’s anyone I trust, it’s them.”

“Wait, hard deliveries?” Duff asked, glancing down at him.

“My hips aren’t as wide as a woman’s, remember?” the older bassist laughed. “Stands to reason that my pelvic opening isn’t as big, either.”

“I still can’t figure out why ya wouldn’t just go in for a C-section, then,” he told him.

Rolling his eyes, Bobby retorted that he didn’t fancy the possibility that he’d explode somewhat literally, if he did that and ever got pregnant again. Not only that, but there were simply too many risks in being a Zorro to wanna take his chances with anyone but the Elves attending his deliveries. That was when his mate saw a certain Terror in his eyes that he’d never seen before, and it actually scared him.

As they helped him downstairs to the living room, Sirena explained what that Terror was and why he’d seen it. In being a Zorro, a lotta folks thought he was a freak for having the ears and tail of what they considered a Wild Animal. Being a male Fertile just upped the Danger for him, considering that he’d the fully functional ’nads of both genders when he should only have those of a male. Were he to go to a hospital for even a Natural delivery, let alone a C-section, he’d be a prime target for becoming a living lab Rat. No scientist on the Planet’d be able to resist wanting to study him like he really _was_ some kinda Animal, or they’d simply assign him a gender by ripping his _unnecessary_ organs out.

Horrified at the mere Thought, Duff started to get why his mate was being so Calm about having a home Birth, rather than going to a hospital. When he thought about it like that, he couldn’t say that he blamed him for wanting to take his chances at home with folks he trusted. At least he knew Rikki and Sirena actually cared for his well-being, as well as that of any kits he was delivering–not only that, but they’d been helping him for almost thirty Years with a helluva great track record thus far.

Bobby whimpered again, his head tilting against the back of the couch as another contraction started about fifteen minutes after they got him downstairs. Part of him wanted to ask something of his mate that he normally wouldn’t, but at the same Time, another part of him didn’t dare. He’d at least his own mother in attendance at every single one of his deliveries in addition to Sirena, but said mother’d passed about a Year before his late husband. There was a part of him that didn’t think he’d be able to handle this delivery without at least one of those two people with him this Time around.

“Duff, I think ya oughta go give Susan a call,” Sirena said softly as they worked on a light breakfast.

“What–why?” the younger bassist asked, looking up from scrambling Eggs for them.

“Honestly, I’m not sure if he’s gonna make it through this with any semblance of Sanity left, if ya don’t,” she told him. “Besides, prolly best to get your girls to watch the rest of the kids for this, anywhore.”

“Getting Grace and Mae to watch the kids, I can understand,” Duff said. “But whaddaya mean, ya think Bobby might not make it outta this without losing his mind?”

“He’s always had Nikki and his mother with him when he was in labor and giving Birth,” the Elvin woman explained. “Duff, his mother–Lynda–died about a Year before Nikki did.”

His eyes widened as he processed that new information. “Oh, shit.”

“Exactly,” Sirena said, nodding. “Lynda attended every Birth, the last being when Rory was born in 2010.”

“And he never thought he’d have anymore kits, so he wasn’t too worried about that part when she died,” the younger bassist breathed.

“Yea, child,” she agreed. “But losing his mother, then his husband, back-to-back like that–’tis no doubt part of why he’d a Death Wish there for a while.”

Duff couldn’t help a wince. “Good thing we found out we’re mated when we did then, huh?”

“Damn straight,” the Elvin woman said. “Now go give your wife a call. I doubt ’twill be quite the same for him, but Bobby’ll no doubt appreciate the Thought.”

Nodding, the younger bassist finished up what he was working on so the Eggs wouldn’t burn, then headed outside so he could make the call. Watching him through the back door as he listened to the ringing in his ear, he felt really bad when he watched Bobby clearly groan and grab his belly again. He just wanted to kick himself for ever putting him in this position, but then again, it took two to tango and he’d never heard him telling him to stop.

Finally hearing his wife’s voice on the other End of the line brought his attention back to his phone, and he heaved a sigh of relief. Susan knew something was wrong before he ever started explaining, but she was surprised by the request he was making of her. If there was one thing he preferred, it was keeping his relationships separate, if only to give the older bassist the privacy he deserved. The World hadn’t found out about his being with Nikki till around the Time their youngest was born, and the media frenzy’d been insane. He hadn’t wanted that all over again–especially not when he was grieving–by letting the World find out _they_ were now together.

Once Duff’d explained what the Elvin woman’d told him, she was more than agreeable to coming over for support. Given her own Birthing experiences–and in a hospital, at that–she totally understood wanting one’s mother with them during that Time. Bobby’s mother being just as dead and gone as his late husband only complicated that for him, but she was still willing to try.

The younger bassist heaved another sigh of relief as he told her that he loved her, and he’d see her soon, once he’d given her the address. His wife Returned the sentiment, letting him know she’d have their daughters with her to round up the kits he loved like they were his own. While Maci might be old and mature enough to handle seeing this since she was actually older than Grace, her younger siblings were prolly still a bit too young. And even if they _could_ handle seeing their mother in labor and giving Birth, they might not wanna due to the _gross factor,_ as they called it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot–first new story of the New Year! Okay, so I'm prolly more than a lil crazy, but I kept getting ideas and images in my head that wouldn't lemme sleep, so I decided to run with it and see what happened! Hope everyone enjoys–even those who wanna kill me for what I did in _Royal Wounded Warrior..._  
>  ~Angel


	2. Two

Even though it didn’t take nearly as long as it coulda, considering traffic around the Greater Los Angeles area, Bobby was in the midst of another contraction by the Time the rest of the McKagans arrived. Shellina, Triton, Lyrica, and Rory were all worried as they watched him splay his hands over his belly, clearly trying not to dig them in. His head was tilted back against the couch again, tail fur standing on End and toes curled as his younger mate tried to Soothe him.

As the trio of women entered the house, an unexpected tag-along darted in the door with them, startling all three of them. Realizing it was a Bird, Susan didn’t even pay attention to what kind it was as she told her girls to help her catch it. Birds were well-known for carrying all kindsa diseases, and such a thing prolly shouldn’t be anywhere near a laboring mama-to-be.

_“Nuuuu!_ Leaz da Birdie ’lone–is Daddy!” Rory screamed, moving to block their path along with his sisters.

“What?” Duff asked, genuinely confused as he looked at said kits. “What’re ya talking about, Rory? We told ya that we watched Daddy cross to be with _his_ daddy and grandparents for ourselves.”

“Daddy gots his ways!” the lil boy answered emphatically, nodding. _“Nuuuu_ question Daddy like dat!”

He was at a complete loss for words, even as the Bird–which he now realized was a Cardinal–hovered over their heads.

“C’mere, love,” Bobby panted once the contraction finally ebbed. The Bird chirped happily before drifting down to land on his wrist once he held his arm out for it, causing a small smile to drift across his face.

“All right, now I’m beyond confused,” the blonde said, the Emotion written all over his expression.

“It’s a Pagan thing,” he managed to chuckle, moving his arm so the Cardinal could hop onto his shoulder.

“Whaddaya mean, Bobby?” Susan asked, her girls heading upstairs to get the rest of the kids’ things, just in case they wound up spending the Night.

“Spirit Guides,” Bobby answered. “Different Animals were believed to have different meanings when a person saw them, and Native Americans were really big on that.”

“Wait, seriously?” she asked.

_“Mmm hmm,”_ the brunette bassist hummed, nodding slightly. “Nikki was into a lot more of the Celtic and Roman Pantheons ’cuz of his Ancestry, but he told me that I could follow anything I wanted to. I liked a lotta those two Pantheons, but something about the Native Americans–specifically the Cherokee–and the Ancient Germanic folks really resonated with me.”

“Did ya ever find out why?” Duff asked curiously.

“I’ve a lotta German and Native American in my own Ancestry,” he answered with a chuckle. “Nikki always thought that I was responding to that in what Pantheons attracted me the most.”

“And ’tis definitely a possibility, kit,” Sirena said from the kitchen, a few _bangs_ following her words.

“Oh, please tell me you’re working on what I _think_ ya are,” Bobby pleaded.

“Yea, that I am, kit,” she giggled. “Ya know I always do once we’re sure you’re in labor.”

“Fuckin’ sweet!” the brunette cheered. “Duff might not take as bad a beating!”

“Wait, what?” That was asked by Grace as she and her sister came back downstairs.

“I get pretty brutal when I’m in labor,” he laughed. “They don’t call it labor for nothing, after all.”

“Yea, girls,” the Elvin woman laughed. “Bobby tunes into his Animal instincts, which can include everything from pummeling the father with his fists to biting so hard, he seemsta be trying to take out chunks.”

“Damn, seriously?” Mae asked with a wince.

Several pictures materialized on the coffee table, showing Nikki’s old _War wounds_ as they called all the bruises, scratches, welts, and bite marks he’d give him every Time he was in labor.

“Yikes,” they winced, even their mother hissing.

“Which Birth were these from?” Susan asked, pointing to a particular set of the pictures.

“Those were from when Zach was born,” Bobby laughed. “It was my first labor, so I pretty much went ballistic on him.”

None of them could help another wince, even Duff looking half-afraid of what his mate was capable of as he viewed the evidence for himself. Before they could ask about that Spirit Guide thing again, though, said mate groaned and grabbed his belly again, another contraction clearly hitting him. The kits whimpered at their mama’s obvious display of pain, the Elvin woman stepping outta the kitchen to reassure them while her magick continued whatever she’d been working on.

All four of the youngest kits looked at her with wide eyes, their ears locked on her as she explained what labor was to them. They already knew there was a really stretchy bag made of muscle in his belly that their sibling was growing in, so she didn’t have to go over that part. It was explaining that that bag squeezed around their sibling to help force them outta his belly that she’d to cover right now.

She told them that when said muscular bag squeezed around their sibling, it was akin to their legs cramping up when they’d run around and play too much without a break. It’d make Bobby’s entire torso hurt–and enough to make him scream without what they called _miracle tea_ –but being vocal about his pain was actually a good thing. Labor certainly wasn’t easy for mother or child, but letting out everything–and she meant _everything_ –rather than repressing it could help him avoid stalling out. None of them wanted him to stall out, ’cuz that’d mean he was in pain longer, not to mention could put him and their sibling both in Danger.

Even Duff and Susan were surprised by how Calm and matter-of-fact she was, but how she managed to explain it without going into too much detail. She really only used just enough to get the point across and reassure them that she’d be keeping a sharp eye on their mama. In fact, the Elvin woman smiled as she told them that she’d attended all their Births, and while he’d some parts harder than other mamas, she’d made sure he and all his kits survived. It was a long and painful process that’d leave him sore and exhausted later, but it was all worth it when he finally got to hold his kit for the first Time.

“It…really is,” the brunette panted as his contraction ebbed. “Nothing like…getting to see…their lil face…and count their…lil fingers…and toes.”

“Naught like getting to hear their first cries, either,” Sirena giggled with a reassuring smile.

“I think every parent feels that way, but none more so than the mother,” Susan chuckled.

“Yea, ’tis definitely true,” she agreed, nodding. “And while I think these kiddos’re better off going back home with Grace and Mae, I’m not gonna stop them from hanging around.”

“Wait, seriously?” the younger bassist asked, looking surprised.

“While it can be better that they’re _not_ exposed to such an event yet, sometimes letting them see what happens with their own eyes can be better,” the Elvin woman explained. “They get to see Bobby and the kit getting the care they need for themselves, that Rikki and I do everything we possibly can to make sure everyone survives.”

“It can be scary and definitely gross, but then again, so can the act that makes an infant in the first place,” Rikki chuckled, the kits giggling as they nodded.

Duff wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.

“Mama and Daddy got really noisy when we were lil,” Rory giggled.

“Half the Time, it sounded like he was beating the crap outta Mama,” Maci agreed. “We didn’t know what they were up to unless we walked in on ’em, and then we realized that even on their brutal Nights, Daddy never did anything to Mama that he didn’t want.”

“They never wanted us to watch _all_ of it, but they never really got mad, if we happened to walk in on ’em ’cuz of a nightmare or something,” Lyrica agreed.

The blonde looked at his mate, who chuckled and nodded.

“I told ya, never really liked voyeurs, butcha can’t really help when your kits walk in on ya in the middle of that,” Bobby said.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” he agreed, remembering when his own girls’d walk in on him and Susan without realizing what they were doing.

The brunette’s four youngest kits finally decided that as long as their mama was taken care of, they weren’t gonna stick around. They didn’t exactly wanna see the gross parts, and they weren’t sure they could handle his screaming, once he got to that point. Giving them hugs and kisses, said mama settled back onto the couch, the Cardinal still resting on his shoulder so that it was pretty much snuggled into the curve of his neck.

Once the kids aside from Maci were gone, Duff and his wife settled in the floor and on the couch next to him. Part of him’d been surprised to see his sister wife, as it were, but another part was glad he hadn’t had to ask for her to come over. It wasn’t the same as having his own mother by far, but he could feel that same kinda motherly Love radiating off her as she did her best to fill that role.

His mate couldn’t help asking what he’d meant about that Spirit Guide thing while he was between contractions, knowing they might have to pause for one in the middle of his explanation. Bobby was more than glad to explain, if it kept him and his wife from trying to kill the Bird still on his shoulder, or run it back outside where they thought it belonged. Going through this process without his late husband wasn’t something he’d been looking forward to, and now that he kinda, sorta had him at his side, he wasn’t letting that go. Even if he’d to take on a different form than what he was used to, what mattered was that Nikki was still being as supportive as he could, all things considered.

The older bassist explained that several Native American tribes believed that each Animal held its own message and piece of information. Animals were conscious, sentient beings, and it was important that all living Creatures be treated with the same Dignity and Respect that people expected. He couldn’t really get any further than that before another contraction hit, this one taking only about ten minutes instead of fifteen. It was a definite sign that he was in labor, as was the fact that they were settled into the rhythmic pattern he was more than familiar with.

“The Ancients’ve always regarded Animals as being sacred, and their behavior was often used as clues and signs at to what Mother Earth might be up to,” he continued once that contraction’d ebbed and he’d caught his breath.

“Really?” Susan asked, sounding curious and Awed.

_“Mmm hmm,”_ the older bassist hummed, nodding. “By watching the behavior of Animals, we can get a better Understanding of the Energy around us and a deeper Insight into Intuitive messages and signs.”

“Just like we’ve Spirit Guides, we also have Spirit Animals,” Rikki explained. “Oft Spirit Animals’ll come into our Lives to give us a message, or to teach us something about our own ability and Strength.”

“Sometimes, an Animal will come into our Lives for a brief period of Time as a way to signal us as to something that we need to pay attention to,” his wife added Sagely.

“So, what’re some of the Spirit Animals you’ve heard of?” Duff asked curiously.

“Starting with the Hawk,” the Elvin man said. “The strong Hawk’s keen eyes and strong wings. If ya continually see Hawks or images of Hawks, it may be a sign thatcha need to look at something more closely before proceeding–it may also be a sign that a strong or important teacher or lesson’ll be unfolding in your Life shortly.”

“The next biggest one’s the Eagle,” Sirena told them as she headed back into the kitchen. “The Eagle’s a sign of Spiritual Protection and moving to a level of higher Consciousness. If ya repeatedly see Eagles or Eagle imagery in your Life, it could be that you’re Transcending or shifting into a New Realm of Consciousness.”

“Wow,” the blonde breathed, gently rubbing his mate’s belly as he listened.

“The next is the Raven or Crow,” her husband told them. “Commonly considered a bad omen, seeing a Crow or Raven could indicate that you’re ready to let go of something or that you’re getting ready to enter into a _Death and Rebirth_ cycle. Seeing a Raven or Crow very rarely indicates physical Death–instead ’tis a sign of an upcoming Rebirth.”

“The Raven’s also considered the Messenger of the Gods, especially amongst the Celts,” the Elvin woman added.

The next most common Spirit Animal was the Owl, which was considered an indicator that one needed to pay attention to their Intuition and Wisdom. The Owl also came as a reminder to pay attention to any gut feelings that one may be receiving, as they were trying to point the person in the right Direction. In addition to that, the Owl may also be a sign that one needed to tune into their Truth and act from a place of authenticity.

After that on the Elves’ personal list was actually the Cardinal, and that made Duff and Susan both perk up as the brunette smiled and reached up to pet the head of the Bird still on his shoulder. Cardinals’d often been associated with receiving a message from a deceased father figure or a male Spirit Guide. If one repeatedly saw Cardinals, it could be a reminder that they were being loved and protected by this male, or a reminder to stay strong and confident in the Path that they were walking.

Even as the Elves paused to let Bobby ride out yet another contraction, the blonde started to get why he’d insisted on letting the lil Bird stay. Now that he opened himself up to feeling Energy like they’d been teaching him how to do, he could feel the Energy of the late bassist radiating from it. He now realized that this was Nikki’s way of being here to support him, knowing he’d need that support today.

Rikki started to move on to the next Animal, looking up when he heard a soft tapping on the window nearest the couch. He almost mentally waved off the presence of the Bluejay hovering outside it, his brow furrowing as he picked up on something that made him take pause. The brunette letting out a _mraw_ as he turned his own attention to the window, his face lighting up when he saw the winged Creature, was what made him open it to allow it entry. Duff was confused and a lil disturbed as this second Bird darted in and made a beeline for his mate, who held out his arm again to let it light on his wrist like he’d done with the Cardinal earlier.

“I’ve missed ya, Mama,” he said softly as he gently stroked the Feathers on top of its head.

The Bluejay chirped at him, sounding equal parts happy and reprimanding.

“What on Earth?” Susan asked as he moved to let it hop onto his other shoulder and practically snuggle against his neck.

“Seeing a Bluejay’s often associated with receiving a message from a deceased _female_ figure or female Spirit Guide,” Sirena explained with a giggle. “If ya repeatedly see Bluejays, it may be a reminder to tune into your Creativity and keep your Creative projects flowing. It could also be an indication that your family needs ya, or that family Unity’s important.”

“So, what you’re saying is that Nikki and his mother’ve both pretty much come back to him in their own ways?” Duff asked, sounding Awed.

“Well, they’ve both already crossed over,” his mate answered, nodding. “They got enough of their Energy back to this plane for me to tell it’s them, but since the Veils’re so thick right now, they’d to hitch rides in forms they knew I’d know the significance of, so to speak.”

“I guess that makes sense,” the blonde said thoughtfully. “So, what’s next on that list?”

“The Praying Mantis,” Rikki answered. “The Praying Mantis comesta remind us that ’tis Time to bring Peace and stillness into our Lives. The Praying Mantis comes as a Messenger to remind us about the Power of stillness and Creating Space in our Lives for the things that we enjoy doing.”

“Seeing a Praying Mantis repeatedly may also be a sign that there’s a message thatcha need to pay attention to. or something thatcha may be missing,” the Elvin woman added.

Next on their personal list was the Lizard, both agreeing that if one repeatedly saw Lizards or Lizard imagery, it may be an indicator that they needed to pay more attention to their Dreams and goals. Perhaps they’d lost sight of all that they could achieve, or perhaps they were feeling negative about their abilities to achieve all that they desired. Seeing a Lizard was a reminder that they’d the Power, and that they needed to spend more Time cultivating their highest Path.

Duff knew that particular feeling all too well, ’cuz he’d gotten it more than once during his Time with GN’R over the decades. The worst Times were when Axl essentially took over the band like a dictator back in the nineties, which ultimately made him and Slash–the final original members besides the ginger–leave for roughly two decades.

After that came the Snake, both Elves saying that seeing a Snake was a powerful reminder of one’s Life Force and their Passions. If one repeatedly saw Snakes or imagery of Snakes, it could be that they needed to pay attention to their Passions and put more Energy into pursuing them. Even Sirena also said that seeing a Snake may also indicate that one was entering into a place of Healing and Renewal. When he thought about it like that, it certainly explained why Bobby seemed to be seeing Snakes everywhere lately, whereas before his late husband had made his contact before crossing over, neither of them’d really seen any.

Duff and Susan continued listening as the Elvin man continued with the Spider, which made both of them shiver. Said man chuckled as he explained that Spiders carried powerful Symbolism about Creation and Spiritual connectedness. When one saw Spiders, often it may be an indication that they needed to tune into their Creative potential and follow through on any ideas or Inspirations that they’d to Create. He said that it may also be a sign of one’s connectedness to the Spirit World, and perhaps also indicate that Spirit was trying to send them a message or reminder about this connection.

“The next–and my personal favorite–is the Dragonfly,” Sirena continued as she entered the living room with a steaming mug.

“Goddess, Sirena–I fuckin’ love ya,” the brunette bassist whimpered, reaching out toward her.

“Seeing a Dragonfly’s a reminder that you’re not alone, and that you’re very protected by your Guardian angels and Spirit Guides,” she explained as she gently handed him the mug. “If ya repeatedly see Dragonflies, it may also indicate that you’re on the right Path and are heading in the right Direction for your Soul.”

“Wait, seriously?” Duff asked, his jaw dropping slightly.

“Yea, seriously, child,” the Elvin woman answered with a nod. “Why?”

“’Cuz I’ve been seeing a shit-ton of Dragonflies–even artwork of them–ever since ya three started teaching me about my D’Anu heritage,” he answered.

“Then it means you’ve finally started finding your way home in a Spiritual sense,” she laughed.

“You’re finally on the Path you’ve always been meant to Travel,” Rikki agreed. “Sometimes, it just takes a person longer than it might take another.”

“Well, damn,” the blonde said, chuckling as he looked up at his mate.

Bobby looked downright Blissed-out as he sipped whatever was in that mug, like he didn’t have a care in the World.

“So, what’s the next one?” Susan asked curiously.

“The Ladybug,” Sirena answered. “The Ladybug’s commonly seen as a good Luck sign and indicates that things’re about to shift in your favor. Seeing Ladybugs or Ladybug imagery repeatedly may also be a sign of your need to pay gratitude for all thatcha have, and the Direction that your Life’s taking. Ladybugs may also indicate a good Time for ya to push forward in obtaining your highest Dreams and Wishes.”

“Which prolly explains why I’ve also been seeing a lotta those lately, too,” the brunette bassist said.

“Next is the Butterfly,” she continued. “Butterflies come to remind ya about the Power of Transformation, and that there needsta be a shift internally before ya can shift externally. If you’re repeatedly seeing Butterflies, it may be a sign thatcha need to Change or release some Thoughts or feelings that’re holding ya back. Seeing a butterfly may also indicate a Cycle of Transformation or Growth occurring in your Life.”

The next Spirit Animal on their list was the Wolf, and both said that repeatedly seeing a Wolf or imagery of a Wolf may indicate that it was Time for one to pay attention to the people they were surrounding themselves with. If one saw a Wolf, it was perhaps also a sign that they needed to learn how to accept help from others.

Following that was the Fox, which was the final Spirit Animal on both Elves’ lists of the top fifteen, surprisingly enough. Foxes were said to come as a reminder that there could be a different way for one to approach their Life or see things. If one repeatedly saw Foxes or imagery of Foxes, it could be that they need to adjust their thinking about something and the way they were approaching things. Foxes could also come as a reminder to seek Joy, to not take things so seriously and to laugh at the lil things in Life. Hearing that made Duff’s jaw drop open slightly again, then snap shut as he really contemplated what they’d just told them.

Even as Bobby groaned with the start of another contraction, the younger bassist explained that he’d been seeing a lotta Foxes around his house shortly before finding out that Nikki was dying. He hadn’t been able to figure out why, but finding out that he was mated to a Zorro made him think maybe it’d tied into that somehow. Considering how he’d to Change his way of thinking to truly accept being mated, not to mention the circumstances under which he’d found out, he seriously thought that maybe that’d been a Spirit Guide trying to tell him what was right on the horizon for him.

Neither of the Elves, nor his mate could deny that he might very well be onto something with that, but they agreed to discuss it further _after_ this kit was born.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a link to the house I'm using as the one Bobby bought after moving back Stateside from Rosalia. I know I haven't really put many descriptions of it in the story yet, but I Intend to as I keep going, so I thought a lotta folks'd like to have a visual of the images that're in my head for it.  
> ~Angel
> 
> Link to Bobby's House–https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2510-Alhambra-Ct-Santa-Rosa-Valley-CA-93012/16422612_zpid/?mmlb=g,9


	3. Three

By the Time the clock struck Noon, Bobby’d made a lot more progress than his younger mate or the man’s wife’d expected. Sirena giggled as she reminded them that since this was his eighth labor and delivery, it was bound to move far faster than the first. His first’d lasted nearly thirty hours, and he’d screamed and cried–not to mention beaten his late husband utterly silly–till he’d finally delivered Zach safe and sound.

Each and every labor after that’d moved a lil faster than the one before it, and it’d gotten to the point that Rory’d been born after only about ten hours. The Elvin woman was anticipating that long or less, provided nothing like the kit’s shoulders being broad enough to cause a few easily-solved problems cropped up.

With every hour that passed, the older basisst’s pain worsened to the point that he couldn’t help an Animalistic scream with every contraction that hit. The only thing that seemed to even remotely take the edge off was what even Rikki called _miracle tea_. Made from steeping Roman Chamomile, Honeysuckle, and Lavender with just enough Luzianne for tea flavor and spelled to High Summerland and back, it was almost like giving him an epidural once it finally kicked in. He could still feel the pressure of each contraction, as well as minimal pain–enough to make him wince–but he could at least sleep through his labor, if he really wanted to.

Duff gently supported him as the Elvin woman moved to check him again around Noon so they could see how much progress he’d made. He didn’t even bother trying to shush him when he whined irritably, considering they’d to wake him from a nap and he’d been sleeping pretty decently. But even though he was irritated with them, he knew the importance of letting the woman who’d essentially been his mother-in-law check him. Such a thing could reveal anything from he’d stalled out to the kit being breech, which’d require trying to turn the lil booger while there was still Time.

“He’s up to a hundred percent effacement, but he’s still at six centimeters,” Sirena reported as she gently wiggled her hand back out.

“Gods damn it,” he grumbled as he squirmed to sit up.

“Think getting him up and walking around’ll help?” the younger bassist asked. “It seemed to when Susan stalled for a couple hours with Mae.”

Before she could even answer, they heard a soft growl.

“Got a better idea,” Bobby grumbled, finally managing to sit up. “It involves the living room clearing out aside from Sirena, though.”

“And what’s that, hon?” he asked, sounding curious.

“Same thing that put this brat in me,” the older bassist answered.

“Sex–seriously?” Duff asked, sounding more than a bit surprised.

“It actually works like a Charm, child,” Sirena laughed. “He’s stalled out before, and a good romp with Nikki always did the trick.”

The younger bassist was surprised to hear that, but he was even more surprised when his mate took charge in an uncharacteristic display of Dominance.

“I want this kit _outta me,”_ he growled as he squeezed his crotch.

He couldn’t help a pleasured groan as he waved off his wife, who looked a bit torn on leaving the room after having been called over here for moral support. Chuckling softly, Rikki gently steered her into the kitchen, explaining the tactic that was being employed under his breath. When the late bassist was forced to fuck his husband as a way of jumpstarting his labor, the only one they’d allow to stay was his own wife, and that was for a couple different reasons.

Bobby let out a moan as he ground himself against his mate, their lips locked in a furious, heated kiss. He wasn’t kidding about wanting this kit outta him by any means necessary, but he wasn’t gonna be stupid about it. Sirena was allowed to stay in the room, first and foremost in the capacity of his midwife as she’d been all Morn.

If the need or desire should arise, though, the other reason the older bassist allowed her to stay tied into the sex. There’d been a couple Times when he’d stalled out that just Nikki fuckin’ him hadn’t quite been enough, but fuckin’ someone else while _being_ fucked had. He wasn’t about to ask Susan for _that_ kinda favor, ’cuz he felt that that was crossing a line that just shouldn’t be crossed. But the Elves were notorious for their fairly open relationship, especially when it came to situations like this, and while it might make Duff a lil uncomfortable, it’d still be for the better.

“Fuck–ya sure about this, Bobby?” said younger bassist asked, panting after gently breaking their kiss.

“Never been more sure,” Bobby answered, nodding. “But honestly…”

“What is it?” he asked, sounding worried.

“I think Sirena’s gonna have to join in on this,” the older bassist answered, biting his lip.

“Huh?” The Fog clouding Duff’s brain started to momentarily clear.

“As in, I think I’ma wind up having to fuck her while _you’re_ fuckin’ _me,”_ he told him.

The younger bassist looked surprised, his gaze jerking over to her when she laughed softly.

“There’ve been a couple Times that he’d to fuck me at the same Time Nikki was fuckin’ him to get his labor jumpstarted,” Sirena said with a grin. “Which I’m more than willing to do now, if need be.”

“Wait, seriously?” he asked, groaning as he twitched against his mate.

“We, Elves’re far more open about our sex Lives than you’d think at first glance,” the Elvin woman answered. “But that’s a conversation for another Time, lest he get ornery and start beating ya instead.”

Nodding, Duff bit his lip as his mate ground against him again, a Thought crossing his Foggy mind. “Kinda makes me wonder something, though,” he managed to say.

“What?” the older bassist grumbled against his throat, groaning as another contraction hit.

“If you’d be willing to let Susan take Sirena’s place,” he told him.

“Thought about it,” Bobby ground out. “Didn’t think she’d wanna, so I didn’t ask.”

“I doubt she’d do anything but say she’d to pass,” the younger bassist chuckled, gently massaging his belly till the contraction ebbed.

“Only one way to find out,” he told him, sighing as he felt his muscles relaxing.

Sirena quietly slipped into the kitchen, where she explained the situation to the other woman, who’d been waiting with her own husband. Naturally, said woman was more than a bit surprised by what she was told, which was proven when she nearly choked on her drink. The Elvin man was quick to clap her on the back since he’d already been standing beside her, easily figuring out where the pair of bassists were going with this idea.

Before Susan could go into the living room to ream her husband out, he posed the theory that came to mind to her. It wasn’t any Secret that Duff’d been spending a lotta Time over here as his mate’s due date drew closer, especially since it was so close to the anniversary of Nikki’s Death. Due to spending all that Time over here, he hadn’t a doubt in any Otherworld that she was starting to feel neglected, even though she understood his reasons. He was almost a hundred percent certain that her husband was trying to make sure her needs were taken care of, despite the older bassist really needing him right now.

Her jaw dropped at the Thought that he’d be willing to share her–even with his other partner–as a way of looking out for both of them. Sure, it was more than a bit weird to even think of fuckin’ another man after the amount of Time they’d been together, but that made her stop and really think. If that was how Bobby’d felt right after his husband’s Death, it was no Wonder they’d taken a while to get sexual.

After a few moments’ Thought, she finally decided that–weird though it’d be, likely for all of them–she was willing to step up to the plate, so to speak. She was getting desperate after weeks of not getting any sex, and she’d actually started to feel the temptation to cheat. If this solved her problem without actually cheating on her husband, but also helped his mate, she didn’t see why they couldn’t at least try it. She admitted that she’d have preferred he talk to her about it instead of just volunteering her, but that was something they could talk about later on.

“Duff, we’re having a talk about this later,” Susan sighed as she walked into the living room.

“I kinda figured,” the younger bassist chuckled, groaning as he got squeezed again. “But hey, it’s not ’cuz I’m trying to putcha on the spot.”

“Yeah, Rikki told me he thoughtcha were just trying to look out for me,” she sighed. “So, how’re we gonna manage this?”

“On our knees,” Bobby answered, finally sitting up straighter.

Susan couldn’t help her eyes widening, not too sure how she felt about that.

“It’s the easiest way so nobody gets hurt,” he said a mite defensively. “We’ve tried having Sirena on her back–I End up nearly collapsing on my belly, which pulls on my back too much.”

“And ’tisn’t good to pull on his spine,” said Elvin woman called from the kitchen. “Not after his surgery in ’01!”

“Besides, I’m not gonna be doing quite as much moving,” the older bassist chuckled. “It’s easier to let the one fuckin’ me–Duff, in this case–do the majority of the moving.”

“Well, I guess we don’t have many other choices,” she sighed.

Nodding, Bobby managed to slide backward off the couch so he could move to kneel at his mate’s feet. It was a familiar position to him, as many Years as he’d spent kneeling at the feet of his late husband in his role as a BDSM sub. He was quick to move so he was actually sitting, though, his arousal on display as he tucked a foot under himself. That action made him groan softly, and they weren’t surprised to see him grind on his ankle, figuring that was why he’d tucked his foot under himself.

Duff slid off the couch to kneel beside him, his own arousal more than obvious as he reached over to gently grab his wife’s arm. Said woman looked nervous as she tentatively crawled closer to them, but was quickly distracted by the kiss she was given. It didn’t take her long to forget about the laboring man sitting beside them, not even realizing whose hands started teasing her.

The older bassist remembered to keep his touches gentle, even though it’d been quite a while since he’d last slept with a woman. If he recalled right, he hadn’t bothered with such a thing since the _Rock of Ages_ tour back in 2012, and only then ’cuz he’d gotten too desperate. But that’d been one of the great things about his late husband–the man was willing to work out what they’d called their _tour agreement,_ mostly so he could avoid what was called a Dom heat. However, being as fair and just as he’d been, those rules’d applied to his mate equally and fairly, even when he was on his meds to stave off his own heats.

Before they knew it, Susan was worked up more than enough to actually manage this, her folds absolutely dripping. That definitely bespoke how long it’d been since she’d gotten any real action, and it made Bobby feel a bit bad for hogging their shared man. At least there was a chance to make things somewhat right as that shared man started teasing him the same way. He couldn’t take quite as much teasing, though, considering how sensitive he was, so it didn’t take long for them to start moving into the positions they needed to be in.

“Goddess alive, fuck me,” the older bassist groaned. He couldn’t help tightening his grip on his sister wife’s hips as a contraction hit just as he moved to get himself lined up.

“Just breathe, hon,” Duff told him, his arms wrapped loosely around his waist as he massaged his belly.

He couldn’t help a pained groaned, his head tilting back against his shoulder, as said sister wife simply kept her mouth shut.

_“Mmmm,”_ he hummed once the contraction started to ebb.

“Ya ready, sweetheart?” the younger bassist asked, his attention on his wife.

“Dunno how much more teasing I can take,” Susan moaned, tossing her hair to look back over her shoulder at them.

“Just lemme know if I hurtcha,” Bobby told her. “I’m not trying to, but I’ve already said I can get brutal when I’m in labor, and that goes for even when I don’t mean to.”

“Trust me, Duff can tell ya that I don’t keep quiet when I’m in pain,” she laughed.

Nodding, the older bassist moved a bit closer, which made her gasp once she felt his tip brush against her. He was forced to go entirely by feel since he hadn’t been able to see past his belly in months, so getting himself lined up took a few tries. Once he was finally lined up, he pushed his hips forward as gently as he could, unable to help a groan as he started to sink into her.

His sister wife mewled much like his late husband swore he did when he was on the receiving End of sex as he slowly bottomed out. Keeping his hips still other than pulling out a hair so she wasn’t uncomfortable, he waited for his mate to move into position. Duff was able to actually see what he was doing, so getting lined up and pushing into him didn’t take nearly as long. Granted, he’d to pause almost as soon as he’d bottomed out to let him ride out another contraction, the way he clamped down on his length in response to the pain teasing him.

The younger bassist didn’t move a muscle other than to breathe and string kisses down his throat and across his shoulder till he was given an obvious sign. Bobby pushing back against him a couple minutes later, which made him let out a pleasured mewl, was the sign he’d been waiting for. Only then did he start a gentle rhythm, which caused his mate to start one on his wife from being pushed forward more with every thrust.

_“Oooh,_ fuck,” Susan whimpered, having a hard Time keeping her upper torso held up as her arms shook.

“Like that, huh, sweetheart?” the blonde growled, slowing his rhythm slightly when he felt another contraction hit his mate.

“Been too long since I got any,” she mewled, tossing her hair again.

“I know, and I’m sorry,” Duff said, his hands gently massing the older bassist’s belly.

Said brunette whimpered and groaned, his inner masochist starting to come out as the pain and pleasure mixed in a weird, but good way for him.

“Ready for more, hon?” he asked. He thought he felt the contraction ebbing, but he wasn’t sure.

“Give it to me,” Bobby demanded, managing to lean forward more. Hooking an arm under his sister wife’s, he crossed it over her chest and started pulling her upright so her back was pressed against his front.

“Jesus Christ–fuck me!” she cried as that Change in angle allowed him to hit a spot only her husband had ever managed to find.

The older bassist managed to move his hips more, actually thrusting rather than relying on his mate’s motions to do it for him. “With pleasure,” he growled, biting at her gently.

Duff couldn’t help a chuckle as he let his hands roam, paying attention to whenever he’d hiss or wince, even reach up to move said hands elsewhere. The point wasn’t to cause him pain, but to bring him the utmost pleasure since only reaching that peak’d truly jumpstart his labor. But even trying to gently rub his nipples was too painful for him in a bad way, and he wasn’t shy about letting him know so.

It didn’t take long for Bobby to really get into the pleasure, enough that he was soon able to ignore every contraction that hit. The Elves in the kitchen couldn’t help snickering under their breath, both knowing damn good and well how he was once he hit a certain point. His inner masochist came out to play after a certain point, and once that happened, he pretty much didn’t care what was done to him. Any pain he felt only added to the pleasure in a sick and twisted way, which made his orgasm build more and more with every passing second.

Somehow, the older bassist held back for quite a while, despite the dual stimulation of fuckin’ Susan while his mate fucked him. He was trying to hold out till he managed to get his sister wife off, but that dual stimulation worked against him a bit more than he realized. Once he reached his point of no Return, he felt like he was transported to a completely different Otherworld as the pleasure crashed over his head like a giant Wave and just kept rolling.

Rikki made sure the younger bassist’s wife was Shielded so she wouldn’t accidentally conceive, if such a thing were even a possibility for her now. Feeling the warm tingling of his magick that settled right over her womb combined with the brunette rubbing her clit set her off with a pleasured scream. The screams that both of them let out combined with said brunette’s rhythmic pulsing around him set Duff off, as well. He let out a low growl as he pushed against his mate, his hips bucking only slightly as they all rode out the pleasure taking them by Storm. None of them’d ever experienced such a thing before, and it was certainly a once-in-a-Lifetime experience for them.

“Sounds like everybody’s feeling better in here,” Sirena giggled, finally Returning after giving them a few minutes to catch their breath and separate from each other.

_“Mmm hmm,”_ Bobby hummed from where he now lay on this floor, somewhat curled up on his side with his tail flicking happily.

“Well, let’s give ya a quick check and see how much that did or didn’t help,” the Elvin woman said.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” his mate agreed, helping him roll onto his back and moving behind him to help prop him up so he could breathe.

“The sooner I can get this kit outta me, the better,” he groaned.

“I know, kit, but admit it–this is all more than worth it once ’tis all said and done,” she told him, gently wedging her hand in.

“Oh, my God,” they heard as she was worming her hand into the older bassist, all eyes turning to the other woman in the room.

“What, sweetheart?” Duff asked, cocking a brow.

“We didn’t even think about me not hitting menopause yet, even though I’m in my fifties,” Susan answered, looking worried.

“Ah, shit,” the blonde groaned. “I didn’t even think of that since–well, I haven’t needed condoms in a while.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Looking up, they saw Rikki in one of the three doorways that opened up to the foyer, a slight smirk on his face as he leaned against it.

“What the hell do ya mean, don’t worry about it?” she asked. “I could very well wind up pregnant!”

“Nay, not so,” the Elvin man chuckled.

“Shielded her in Time?” Bobby asked, not even wincing from being checked.

“Yea, so there won’t be any accidental conceptions anytime soon,” he answered with a nod.

“Shielded?” his sister wife asked, confused–till feeling something leak outta her made her blush Beet-red.

The Elvin woman explained how they could use their magick as a completely impenetrable Shield that worked the same way as a diaphragm. No being they did such a thing for ever conceived, no matter how fertile they were at any given Time, and the older bassist was living proof of that. Even once Nikki’d mastered that spell, he wouldn’t conceive unless that was the Intent or the spell faded without anyone realizing. Normally, the former happened more often than the latter, but the twins were one such case of the latter happening due to a tour.

Duff reminded his wife as she pulled her hand back outta his mate that the Elves were far stronger and definitely more experienced than a mere Witch. With over a Millennium of the latter over even the older bassist, chances were that if they didn’t want such a spell to fail, it wouldn’t. Even though he was still a bit worried, he decided not to let it bother him as much, especially with Sirena’s announcement.

Said Elf looked up with a grin on her face as she said that their last-minute romp’d certainly done the trick. Bobby’d shot up from only six centimeters to full dilation in the hour, hour and a-half that they were going at it, which made him cheer. He wouldn’t deny loving the feeling that pregnancy gave him–he wouldn’t be working on his ninth kit, if it weren’t at least somewhat enjoyable for him–but he was ready for it to be over and done with. Nothing ever exhausted him as much as this nine-month period, and especially the labor that led up to a safe and healthy delivery. It was all worth it–the pain, the Morn sickness, the kicks to the bladder and prostate–when he finally got to hold his newborn kits.

Even Susan jumped in to help set up for the delivery, simply doing what Sirena told her to as she waited for the orgasmic Fog to clear from her brain. Rikki busied himself with setting up to clean up and assess the infant after its Birth as his wife moved to start keeping watch when the older bassist let out a telltale grunt. The moment of Truth’d arrived–they were in the home stretch, and it wouldn’t be long before he and Duff got to meet their kit at last.


	4. Four

Within an hour of his first push, Bobby’d safely delivered a fat, healthy son into his surrogate mother-in-law’s waiting hands. In fact, the boy was so healthy that he hadn’t even been fully out before he’d taken his first breath and let out a shriek that could rival a Banshee. Such a sensation’d felt weird to his mama–just as weird as when he’d kicked just the right way to set off an orgasm as he was pushing–but they were all glad that he was here, safe and sound.

Even Duff’d been surprised to see that his only son’d inherited the blonde hair he’d been Graced with as a child. No doubt it’d Darken as he aged like his own’d done, but for now, it was a Light blonde and the Fox ears atop his head seemed like they were Golden, in comparison. Honestly, he didn’t exactly care what the boy’s hair did–he was a proud papa who finally had a son, either way.

Once the boy–who still had yet to be named–had been cleaned up, deemed perfectly healthy, and fed for the first Time, said proud papa finally got to hold him. He’d been amused at how reluctant his mate’d been to let go of the newborn, thinking it was adorable how possessive and protective he got. Sirena’d giggled as she’d assured him that that was typical behavior of the older bassist right after giving Birth. It was as if he felt a need to reassure himself of his new kit’s Health and safety, and in all Honesty, it was typical of any new mother. Susan agreed with the much-older woman, recalling how she’d felt much the same way when their daughters were born.

All of the odd Love triangle were catching a nap with the newborn when a soft knock sounded at the front door. The Elves were still awake and keeping watch while they got some rest, so Rikki moved to answer said knock before it could sound again and wake any of them up. He’d have turned away the visitors, if he hadn’t seen an almost immediate resemblance to the younger bassist in both of them. Instead, he held a finger to his lips in a bid to keep quiet, letting them in and closing the door before leading them to the living room.

_I’d keep quiet for a lil while longer,_ they heard in their heads, which startled them.

“What on Earth?” the woman asked quietly, her eyes wide.

_Mental link,_ he chuckled in his Thoughts. _Only the most powerful beings can open one with just anyone, rather than being relegated to only other magickal beings._

_You’re an Elf,_ came the response in a masculine voice he innately knew was from her companion.

_Yea, as is my wife,_ the Elvin man thought with a nod.

_Well, we already know better than to fuck with Elves_ – _not that that’s our Intent,_ he thought with a chuckle of his own.

_Judging by the resemblance, I’d say you’re Duff’s parents_. The Elvin man already knew it was true, now that he’d read their Energy signatures.

_We are,_ the woman answered, nodding. _Our granddaughters told us where to find him when we dropped by to visit and found them babysitting several lil tykes._

_Bobby’s youngest kits,_ he told her, heading into the living room. _We allowed them to make their own choice, but they decided witnessing their newest sibling’s Birth wasn’t for them_.

The younger bassist’s parents–Marie and Mac–looked surprised, but kept quiet as they followed the Elvin man.

In the living room, they saw their giant of a son sammiched between his wife and another man they’d known he was friends with for decades. That other man looked absolutely exhausted, even as he slept so deeply that it seemed nothing could disturb him. But what surprised them was the obvious newborn cradled in their son’s arms, the other man resting a hand on the infant’s back as if keeping tabs on them, even in his sleep.

A woman they immediately sensed was Elvin–likely their host’s aforementioned wife–looked up from where she’d been tucking the group back in. Her features were just as Ethereal as her husband’s, and her Power radiated off her as much as the Calming, Soothing Energy that made the entire group on the sofa bed smile. Even the newborn Duff was cuddling smiled, although they weren’t sure if it was Intentional, or a sign that they were about to dirty their diaper. Marie and Mac supposed that didn’t matter to them as much as why their son was cuddling the infant, considering they hadn’t known about the Changes to his Life within the last Year.

Even though Sirena did her best to keep him asleep, she wasn’t surprised when Bobby’s eyes flew open moments later. He’d always been able to sense when he was being watched, and he was so adept at reading Energy that he could always tell when the eyes watching him were from unknown sources. Thankfully, she managed to Calm him so he didn’t freak out and accidentally hurt his new son, who’d his full attention the second she reminded him of him. Once he was reassured of the infant’s safety, he turned that attention to the couple watching his Love triangle with undisguised interest.

“Who the fuck–” he started, his pulse ratcheting up a few notches.

“Relax, kit–they’re Duff’s parents,” Rikki told him with a reassuring smile.

“Huh–what?” said younger bassist said, tightening his grip on the kit he held as he woke with a soft snort.

“Your parents decided to pay a visit, child,” he chuckled, which made him look up.

“Mom–Dad?” Duff seemed more than a bit surprised. “You’re seriously in the same room and haven’t killed each other yet?”

“Something told us both we needed to pay a visit,” Marie giggled. “Imagine our surprise to arrive at your house and find our granddaughters wrangling four lil rugrats.”

“That’s my brats, all right,” the older bassist chuckled before yawning. “Just as much rambunctious rugrats as their daddy was.”

“So, what on Earth’s going on, son?” Mac asked, his brow cocked curiously.

“You’re gonna wanna sit down,” he chuckled, pushing himself into a sitting position. “You’re bound to hit the deck, if ya don’t.”

The other couple sat down on the love seat as Susan squirmed and woke with a yawn of her own, making their son glance down at her with a smile. Clearly, there was a lot more going on than what first met the eye, and they couldn’t help but wanna speed this up. However, part of them didn’t wanna interrupt the obviously-tender moment, knowing their son’d be honest with them at his own pace.

Assured that his wife and mate were both comfortable, Duff looked up at his parents as he continued to cradle his new son. He knew they were taking in the Change in his appearance, and he couldn’t help a soft chuckle at their expressions. It’d taken even him a while to get used to looking like he was in his twenties again, and they hadn’t seen him since before he’d accepted being mated. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that it was quite a bit for them to take in as it was, and they didn’t even know the half of it, not by a long shot.

“How much plastic surgery did ya have, son?” Mac chuckled, that chuckle taking the sting outta his words.

“None, believe it or not,” he answered with a grin. He pretended not to notice the look that suddenly crossed his mother’s face, then disappeared again almost as quickly.

“All right, so what’s going on here?” the older man asked. “And don’t tell me it’s nothing, either.”

“I wasn’t gonna,” the younger bassist swore. “’Cuz it’s way more than just something.”

Both still looked curious, but didn’t interrupt him.

“Mom, Dad–this is my mate, Bobby,” Duff told them, a goofy grin splitting his face as he wrapped his free arm around said mate.

_“Mraw.”_ The older bassist peeked up from where he’d hidden his face against him.

“OhmiGoddess,” his mother breathed, her eyes widening.

They merely cocked her brow at her as they wondered what provoked that particular response.

“You’re a Zorro.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yeah, can’t really deny that,” Bobby answered, pink tinging his cheeks slightly.

“And you’re a Fertile, now that I’ve bothered filtering through your scent,” she continued.

“Marie, what’re ya talking about?” Mac asked, sounding confused.

“Remember how I said my family was a bunch of loners and didn’t really have much to do with each other?” she countered.

Her husband could only nod.

“They were mostly Zorros,” Marie revealed.

“Wait, what?” Her son looked shocked. “You’re saying our family’s made up of a bunch of Foxes?”

“My side, that is,” she answered, nodding. “I never told anyone, ’cuz while my mother was a Zorro, my father was human–and I inherited more of the human traits.”

Poor Duff looked flabbergasted, prompting his mate to take their son–who actually needed to be fed again, judging by his irritated whimpering. He’d been shocked enough when he’d found out there was D’Anu blood–likely from his father, based on his surname–but he’d managed to deal with it. After all, he’d some damn good teachers in both his mate and the Elves, so they helped him quite a bit with figuring out how to harness his Power without wiping out half the West Coast.

But to find out that he was a quarter Zorro from his mother’s side of the family on top of that magickal surprise? And that wasn’t even including the circumstances of finding out he was mated last Autumn, shitty as those circumstances were overall. He just didn’t know how to process that, or where to Begin with demanding answers as he held his head in his hands.

Seemingly outta nowhere, he felt a Calming, Soothing Energy he knew wasn’t from Sirena and glanced up to his right. Bobby shrugged as he Silently told him that it wasn’t him projecting that feeling, and he couldn’t help but look surprised as that made him look down. Even as he nursed almost greedily, their new son’d managed to grab a hank of his hair without him realizing it. The boy wasn’t pulling on it or anything, which woulda made him take notice sooner, but rather just holding it as if holding one of his fingers. He was quick to realize that–in grabbing and holding his hair–it was their kit who was projecting that Energy to him, as if not wanting Daddy to be upset.

The younger bassist couldn’t help a sniffle as he reached over to gently rub his ears, laughing as he let out an irritated _mraw_ from around his mama’s nipple. His mate chuckled as he told him that most kits didn’t like being messed with when they were getting their noms on, just like most baby Animals. It was their way of saying to cease and desist, or whoever was messing with them was gonna live to regret it–big Time.

“Son, I’m sorry I never said anything,” Marie sighed, reaching over to grab his hand.

“Ya don’t have to apologize, Mom,” he told her. “It’s just a shock ’cuz of everything that’s happened in the last Year or so.”

“Whaddaya mean?” his dad asked, looking curiously confused.

“It might be better to wait till Bobby takes this lil guy upstairs for a diaper change,” Duff said, sounding a bit nervous.

“It won’t really matter, hon,” the older bassist told him. “Ya forget, I can hear ya loud and clear upstairs like you’re right beside me.”

“I’m still getting used to that,” he chuckled as his mate wiggled his ears at him.

Looking back up at his parents, the younger bassist took a deep breath as he rewound the past Year in his head.

“Remember when I said I’d gotten word that a friend of mine was really sick, and I said I was going to Europe to see them?”

“Yeah, we remember that,” his mom answered, nodding.

“Ya didn’t come back for weeks–hell, even Susan and the girls went with ya,” Mac said.

“That friend–it was Nikki Sixx,” Duff told them, gently snuggling his mate when he whimpered. “I didn’t know almost till it was too late, but he was diagnosed with something called Creuztfeldt-Jakob disease.”

“What the hell’s that?” his dad asked.

“It’s kinda like mad Cow disease ’cuz of how it works, but it’s not the same thing,” he explained. “It’s when some protein in the body starts forming wrong, and when it does that, it starts attacking the brain.”

“Oh, my Goddess,” Marie breathed, covering her gaping mouth as even her husband’s eyes widened in shock.

“It moves pretty quick, too–Bobby told me that once diagnosed, a patient’ll live a Year, if they’re lucky,” the younger bassist continued.

“Most don’t even make it that long,” Bobby said, sounding choked-up. “It’s usually already so far advanced, they’re lucky if they’ve a couple months left before they succumb to the brain damage and dementia.”

Knowing he’d a hard Time talking about this, Duff took over the explanation again as he told his parents everything. From how he’d arrived in Rosalia to see a shell of the wild, crazy man he’d known back in the eighties when Mötley Crüe’d helped GN’R really get their start to the bitter End. That included how it’d been the older bassist’s oldest son to realize they were mated when he’d seen his mama’s eyes shift, but known he wasn’t catching his dad’s scent.

Marie looked like she wanted to burst into tears as she moved to hug Bobby, who seemed surprised at first, but quickly sank into her motherly embrace. He managed to bite back his own tears, managing telling her that she didn’t have to be sorry for him in the slightest. Even though he still missed his late husband, he knew he was at Peace and not suffering now, and that was what mattered.

His mate’s dad started to ask how he could be sure Nikki was really at Peace, which was when the Cardinal who’d watched over him during his labor chirped from where it’d been roosting with the Bluejay. The older bassist smiled as he held out his wrist, both Birds flapping their wings as they lifted off and flew over to light on the outstretched appendage. Both gave him another chirp of greeting as they hopped up his arm till they were both settled on his shoulder, making Duff’s parents gape. No doubt they were surprised that he was letting them anywhere near a newborn infant, which made him laugh.

“I know he’s at Peace, ’cuz he’s his ways of telling me,” he said, then repeated what’d been said about the meaning of Cardinals and Bluejays earlier that Morn.

“He came back as that Cardinal, didn’t he?” Marie asked, sounding Awed.

“He’d have no doubt come back like he did a couple weeks ago,” the older bassist said, grinning. “But since he took his opportunity to cross over while it was available, he sent back as much of his Energy as he could to hitch a ride for a while.”

“Ya actually got to see him cross?” she asked, sounding surprised.

“It was actually kinda cool,” Duff spoke up. “He scared the shit outta us by saying something from the corner before he materialized. And honestly, I thought it was freakier to be talking to a disembodied voice at first than when we realized he was actually pretty solid, for a Spirit.”

“Oh, wow.” Even his wife looked surprised by that.

“Nikki’s dad and grandparents popped in for a minute–long enough to bear witness to me popping the question–and the poor guy was so torn,” the younger bassist continued. “He seemed like he wanted to go so he could be with his family and any other friends that’d already passed, but like he didn’t wanna leave Bobby when he knew he needed him still.”

“Granted, not getting to talk to him even from beyond the grave helped with that,” Bobby chuckled. “I didn’t know he was still hanging around, he kept himself Shrouded so good. But Nikki was always like that with me–never wanted to see me cry so much as happy tears, let alone any other kind, and he’d have been more than glad to stay Earthbound till I could join him, if I hadn’t talked him outta it.”

“He sounds like he was a lot more loving, attentive, and caring than I think the World ever gave him credit for,” Marie said with a smile.

“Oh, he was.” He couldn’t help a chuckle as he nodded. “Even when his back was killing him so much that he’d to partake in Elvin weed to get any relief, he’d still pick me up and carry me, if he needed to.”

“Wait, whaddaya mean?” Mac asked curiously.

“I can’t really get into it, but he was once in an accident that blew out pretty much his entire spine and even left some of his brains elsewhere–literally,” the older bassist explained. “He lived in chronic agony for the rest of his Life–that was actually part of what caused his addictions back in the eighties.”

“Well, shit,” the older man winced. “Kinda reminds me of my old CO from way back when.”

Even Duff was curious enough to ask what he meant, ’cuz he’d never really heard his dad talk about his military Days. He wasn’t surprised when it took him a few moments to gather his Thoughts, that familiar haunted look he’d seem all too often in his childhood glittering in his eyes. Maybe asking about this wasn’t the best of ideas, but he felt like it was something he’d to know before his own Death.

Mac explained how his former commanding officer was one of the finest men he’d ever served under while he was still enlisted in the Corps. Dedicated to his piss-ons as much as his superiors, loyal to an absolute fault, the man was the living embodiment of the saying _Semper Fidelis_. He’d throw himself into the line of fire–sometimes literally–if it meant his men went home to their loved ones alive and in one piece. More often than not, it seemed like he didn’t even care whether he went back to his own loved ones–few that he’d said there were–alive or not.

Bobby couldn’t help his eyes widening, even as he moved his newborn kit to be burped when he spit his nipple out. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear that was the exact description given of his late husband back before he’d been _Honorably Discharged_. Such a description was definitely apt of the Cat he’d known and been mated to for less than a month shy of thirty Years, that was for sure. He’d actually eat his own tail, if that description hadn’t fit the man he’d loved to the End of Time and back.

“I definitely can’t speak ill of Col. Feranna,” the older man said. “I’d love to know what happened to him after he got blown to Kingdom Come, but I doubt I’ll ever know.”

“OhmiGoddess.”

Duff was startled, just barely catching their son when he nearly dropped him. “Bobby–what’s wrong, hon?”

“Holy shit,” the older bassist breathed, letting him take their son from him. “Mac, ya already know what happened to that soldier.”

“Huh?” his would-be father-in-law asked. “Whaddaya mean?”

“That soldier–Col. Frank Feranna, Jr.–was Nikki,” Bobby answered, shocking even his mate and the younger bassist’s wife.

“What?” Susan asked, shocked.

Conjuring up an old album he’d put together, he flipped it open where they–mostly Mac–could see. “Look familiar to ya?”

“Holy fuck,” he breathed as he looked down and saw a face that still haunted his Dreams almost fifty Years later. “That’s him, all right–that’s my former CO, Col. Feranna.”

The older bassist simply flipped the page to show one of Nikki in his dress blues about five Years before his Death, his late husband grinning as he proved they still fit.

“Jesus Christ,” Marie whispered. “Other than the long, Dark hair, ya can tell it’s the same guy.”

“I can’t fuckin’ believe it,” Mac said. “He shoulda been dead after what I saw with my own two eyes.”

Duff wasn’t surprised that he didn’t wanna get into it when he said _June sixteenth, 1970,_ which made his mate gently elbow him and shake his head. He said he’d explain it later, but it wasn’t a good idea to push his dad about it, ’cuz he knew what he was talking about–and how full of horrors the story was. It’d taken him Years to get his late husband to really and truly open up about it, and he’d lapsed into quite a few flashbacks over it. The difference was that his memory wasn’t nearly as clear as his would-be father-in-law’s was, which no doubt would play a massive difference.

Wanting to focus on his parents meeting and getting acquainted with their new grandson, he simply nodded his agreement. His mother wasn’t exactly surprised to find out that this adorable lil man shared her blood, now that her son’d admitted to being mated to Bobby. If she was surprised by anything, she’d say it was by how quickly he’d managed to take that step with the younger bassist.

As he watched his would-be mother-in-law cuddling the newborn, he admitted that it’d been hard for him the first few months after Nikki’s Death. He admitted to wanting to take measures to join him more than once, but it was his younger mate’s Love, support, and Determination to see him Heal that’d gotten him through it. Finally being able to take that step with him was certainly a good thing, even if it’d surprised them both by happening a bit sooner than they’d thought it would. Not only that, but they were making having to share Duff since he was still happily married to Susan work just as well, although his pregnancy’d tipped the scales in his favor a bit lately.

Mac and Marie were just glad to see their son happy, even if he was now full of questions much like he’d been as a child. They were equally full of questions, starting with what on Earth’d made the older bassist wanna start all over again when he hadn’t had a kit in Years. However, all of them agreed that such questions could wait till the new parents’d settled into more of a routine, not to mention named their new son.


	5. Five

The next month passed by in relative Peace, the Birth of a new kit and all the revelations of Lifelong Secrets considered. Duff was still every bit the proud papa, even though they chose not to admit he was publicly since they weren’t ready to announce their relationship yet. Granted, that just meant the entire Planet–even the rest of Poison and GN’R–were dying to know who on Earth the older bassist’d slept with that possessed blonde hair.

But even as they were adjusting to being new parents again, the Secrets that’d been Hidden for so long just kept coming. As it turned out, the younger bassist wasn’t just a quarter Zorro–he’d been born with the telltale Fox ears and tail, on top of it. His father, not knowing what the hell was wrong with his son, had spelled him so he’d a permanent Glamour on them, and that was the last Time magick was ever used in the McKagan household. Learning such a thing pissed him off, ’cuz as he put it to said father, he’d have preferred having a choice in showing off what he was instead of having it taken away from him when he was too young to decide on his own.

Naturally, that led to son cutting all ties from father, and neither’d spoken to the other since the Day the kit–now named Ciaran Robert-Nikolaus Dall-McKagan–was born. The younger bassist wanted nothing to do with the man who’d Hidden half his heritage from him for his own selfish reasons, then subsequently wanted nothing to do with him after he and Marie divorced.

Even if he thought it a bit on the extreme side, Bobby couldn’t really say that he blamed his mate for feeling that way. Mac’d admitted that he hadn’t Hidden his ears and tail from him to protect him, but ’cuz he didn’t want the stigma of having a freak for a son. Besides, the older bassist’s own father’d abandoned him as a kit, and he honestly couldn’t say he’d want anything to do with him, if he were to suddenly show up now. That being said, he’d be surprised if his mate’d actually wanted his father to continue being a part of his–and therefore his kits’–Life now.

“Let’s try this again,” he chuckled, watching from where he was nursing Ciaran again. “Ya gotta open your mind and let the image ya wanna become take shape there, hon.”

“Ugh, this is so frustrating,” Duff grumbled. Ever since Rikki and Sirena’d broken the Shroud cast on him, he’d been learning more about his Zorro heritage–which included how to shift.

“It’s really not that hard,” the older bassist said, biting back harder laughter. “Actually, learning how to _not_ do that spontaneously is harder.”

“I swear, if I wind up with just two paws–and not even on the same limbs, at that–again…” he trailed off, glaring at the foot and hand that’d shifted when the rest of him hadn’t on his last attempt.

“One more shot, and I’ll leave it alone for a while,” Bobby promised with a grin. “Even though seeing ya fuck up like that’s hilarious.”

“Oh, shut up, he who can shift his entire body, not just random parts!” the younger bassist retorted, even as he fought a smile.

His mate shot him an encouraging smile before glancing down at Ciaran, who’d apparently decided that he’d gotten enough milk for this feeding. Even as he looked back up once he’d readjusted their son to burp him, the older bassist was still as encouraging as he could be. After all, he couldn’t just shift _for_ his mate–this was something he’d to practice, or he’d never get it right, just like any other young kit. To be quite honest, even the rest of his kits–including the ones who shifted into kittens, not Foxes–kept telling him that.

Duff took another deep breath and closed his eyes, opening his mind like his mate’d told him to even as he closed it off to any interfering Energies. He wasn’t too sure what his coat Color was supposed to be, so he kept focusing on images of Red Foxes he’d seen over the Years. Even if that distinctive red-and-brown coat with a lil bit of white wasn’t right, at least it was the right Animal.

Outta nowhere it seemed, he felt something weird happening to him that made his eyes fly open–and what he saw was a bit startling. Where he’d been sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him before, he could feel a pair of limbs more or less curled up against his hips. Not only that, but he’d swear his vision’d gone from Technicolor to simply black-and-white with a few muted Colors thrown in just to tease him.

Bobby couldn’t help an excited cheer as he took in the Amber Fox his mate’d shifted into, those hazel eyes of his standing out against his fur. Reaching down to let him sniff his hand, he let him get a good whiff of his scent before he dared to scratch his ears, which sent him into a frenzy of the good persuasion. He couldn’t help laughing again as his younger mate quickly bounced up, spinning in Circles almost like he was trying to chase his tail as he tried to inspect himself. The only reason the poor thing stopped was when he made himself dizzy, which made him laugh even harder and tell him to spin in the opposite Direction to unwind himself again.

“Ya finally did it, hon!” he said, still grinning as he patted the couch.

_“Mraw!”_ Duff hopped up on the couch beside him, clearly still not used to moving on four legs.

“It takes a while to get used to, for sure,” the older bassist chuckled, scratching his ears again. “But it’s not like it hasta be done all at once.”

_“Mraw, mraw, mraaaaw?”_ He looked up at him with those hazel eyes that he loved as much as he’d loved Nikki’s Sky eyes.

“Same thing ya did to shift to this form,” Bobby answered, easily understanding him. “Ya gotta focus on your human form, having two legs instead of four, being able to play–shit like that that’s associated with being human.”

The younger bassist cocked his head curiously as he listened, which was just fuckin’ adorable.

“Hey, even shifting back takes some practice,” he chuckled. “Ya don’t think I got to where I could do it so easily overnight, did ya?”

Duff couldn’t help a slightly annoyed huff, but his wagging tail gave away that he wasn’t really pissed or anything.

“You’re fuckin’ adorable in your Fox form, though,” the older bassist told him, laughing when he acted like he was gonna tackle him. “Not with Ciaran in my arms, ya goof!”

_“Mraw!”_ There wasn’t anything on the Planet that could get him to hurt his son.

Bobby couldn’t help laughing again as he quickly changed said son’s diaper, then got him settled in his cradle for a nap. It was the same cradle that his late husband had built for Zach when he was still pregnant with him, so its use now was a lil bittersweet. Even still, he couldn’t bear to get rid of it–especially by burning it–when it was something special the Neko’d worked so hard on all those Years ago.

With Ciaran in his cradle and suckling his paci contently as he drifted off, he closed his eyes after taking a few steps away. Moments later, he felt his frame shift and his upper torso come lower to the ground till his forepaws settled beneath him. Upon opening his eyes again, he wasn’t disappointed to see that his vision was in black-and-white, but he could still tell his mate’s coat was a lot Lighter than most of his own. He could also tell that his eyes were Lighter, even if they weren’t nearly as Light as Nikki’s had been, whether they were Glamoured or not.

Duff couldn’t help but admire what he already knew was a mostly Silver-and-Gunmetal coat, his mate’s ears and limbs really being the only parts that were black. Given that the older bassist was actually a brunette–his black hair’d come outta a box or from a Glamour, after all–he was a bit surprised by his Fox form’s Coloring every Time. Considering his Natural hair Color in human form, he’d have thought his coat’d be a rusty-red shade, but this man was full of surprises, it seemed.

The younger bassist couldn’t help wagging his bushy tail as said mate approached him with a soft _mraw,_ then nuzzled him. He let out another _mraw_ of his own, happy enough that he’d be purring as loud as a Cheetah, were he a Cat instead. Moments later, he couldn’t resist his urge to wrestle as he playfully tackled Bobby, careful to be gentle with him. Even though he was a month out from delivery, he still wasn’t quite outta his postpartum period, and he didn’t wanna hurt him.

“Daddy?”

Looking up from their wrestling match when he heard his older daughter’s voice got Duff tackled and pinned by his wily mate. _“Mraw!”_

The older bassist let out what he’d swear was a snicker as he leaned down to lovingly lick his ears.

“Da–ohmiGoddess!” Grace gasped, stopping dead in her tracks.

_“Oof!”_ They heard a soft _thump_ behind her and realized she wasn’t alone as Mae stepped out to her side. “What gives, sissy?”

All his older daughter could do was point to where they were in the floor, his mate still pinning him down.

“Good Gods, Daddy–please tell me you’re not getting your funk on in the living room!” she laughed.

Duff snorted in response as his mate rolled off him, then shifted once he was in the clear and wouldn’t End up squishing him.

“No, we’re not getting our funk on,” he laughed. “I’ve been getting your dad to practice shifting once we found out he’d the ability, and he finally did it!”

“That’s awesome!” his younger daughter said, crouching down to let him sniff her hand.

The younger bassist rolled onto his side, instinctively not wanting to give her his belly as he sniffed at her hand before licking it.

“Now, howddawe get him back to normal?” Mae asked curiously, looking up at the man who was essentially her stepdad.

“That’s all on him as much as shifting _to_ this form,” Bobby chuckled. “It just takes practice to get as good and quick at it as I am.”

“And you’ve had a lotta practice, right?” Grace asked as she knelt down beside her sister.

“Well, most Nekos and Zorros start shifting around the age of three or four,” he answered. “The first Time’s usually spontaneously in our sleep–which’s freaky as fuck, lemme say.”

“’Cuz ya wake up as an Animal when ya know ya went to bed as a human, right?” the older McKagan daughter asked.

“Exactly,” the older bassist answered, nodding. “And you’ve no idea how to get back to whatcha call normal, so it tendsta cause a panic attack in a lotta kits.”

“Wait, really?” her sister asked, surprised.

“Yesh, and ish _nuuuu_ fun.”

Looking over at the middle doorway that led into the living room, they saw lil Rory standing there with a proud grin on his face. As he came over to let Duff sniff his hand like he’d been taught by both parents, he recalled the first Time he’d shifted a few Years ago. It’d been in the middle of the Night, like his mama’d said, when he was Dreaming about running through a Meadow with the Wind playing with his hair.

When he’d woken up, he’d freaked out and flipped his shit, tearing into his parents’ bedroom with a _mraw_ his mama recognized all too well. Bobby and Nikki’d managed to Calm him down so he’d listen, and once they did, they’d sleepily walked him through shifting back. It’d taken him a few tries, but he finally managed it so he was sitting on his behind between them in his human form.

The younger bassist couldn’t help but be glad that such a thing _hadn’t_ happened to him when he was younger since he’d been prone to panic attacks in his teens and young adulthood. He couldn’t imagine having shifted and not knowing how to shift back, especially since he wasn’t sure his mother coulda walked him through it. After all, since she didn’t have the Fox features, she couldn’t shift, so he doubted she’d know how to go about it like his grandmother–and now his mate–did. It certainly wouldn’t have Ended well, so maybe having been Shrouded and unable to shift all his Life’d been for the better.

“But is otays–he’ll shift back eventually,” Rory giggled. “It just takes practice.”

“So your mama told us, kiddo,” Grace said with a laugh. “I’m kinda curious as to _how_ he’s supposed to manage it, though.”

“Gosta focus on his people form!” the lil boy said adamantly. “Having hands and feets instead of paws, slurping his sketti–stuff like that!”

His mama chuckled, looking proud at his vehement declaration. “That’s right, bud–or he’ll End up partially shifted again.”

“Partially shifted?” Mae asked, sounding surprised.

“He managed to get a hand and a foot to shift earlier, and that was it,” the older bassist laughed. “I swear, I ’bout pissed my pants when I saw two random paws on two completely different limbs, everything else human!”

Neither McKagan daughter could help cracking up at the Thought, which made their dad huff at them again.

“But we gotta quit all this laughing so he can focus, or nothing he tries is gonna work,” Bobby told them. “It’s kinda like meditating, if that makes any sense.”

_“Ahhhh,”_ the younger McKagan daughter said, nodding. “Gotta have Peace and quiet for it, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” he answered as he Returned the nod. “Once he’s as good at it as I am, he won’t need to focus as hard–all it’ll take is a single Thought, and he’ll shift.”

Nodding again, the girls each rubbed one of their dad’s ears as if he was any other household pet, which made his canine instincts start coming out. Duff’s tongue lolled out as he panted slightly, his mind already clearing till it was completely devoid of all Thoughts. When he hit that point, an image of his human Self crossed it, Centering itself right at the forefront as he imagined himself back to what he considered normal.

It took a few moments before he felt that weird sensation again, but before he knew it, he was stretched out on his side. His head was in his mate’s lap, his legs curled up slightly behind where Grace was sitting next to his abdomen, now that his body was longer again. Stretching his human frame like he’d just woken up, he slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting and shook his hair out.

“All right, that was just fuckin’ weird,” he chuckled, having to pause to clear his throat.

“It always is, especially the first few Times,” Bobby told him with a smile. “Do it more often, and you’ll get more used to it.”

“Kinda like you and that Elvin weed ya told me about?” the younger bassist asked.

_“Mmm hmm,”_ he hummed with a nod.

“Elvin weed?” Grace asked, looking confused.

“The Elvin cousin of the pot you’re used to hearing about,” the older bassist chuckled.

“Wait, really?” her sister asked curiously.

“It was something Nikki got me into right after I’d surgery on my neck back in ’01,” Bobby explained. “Being a Witch and recovering addict, he didn’t want me getting strung out on the painkillers they kept trying to gimme in the hospital.”

“I didn’t think any kinda weed worked _that_ good, though,” the older McKagan daughter mused.

“Elvin weed’s, like–six Times stronger than its Earthling cousin,” he told them. “Three hits, and I’ma giggly mess that pretty much does nothing but sleep and munch for about two Days.”

“Sweet Goddess,” Duff laughed. “Course, now I kinda wanna see that side of ya.”

“No, ya don’t, hon,” the older bassist chuckled. “I damn near can’t wipe my own ass, I get so stoned on it.”

“Okay, maybe that’s _not_ such a good thing,” he agreed. “It’s still funny to think about, though.”

“Till ya see it in action–which ya just might, considering the way ya tackled me to wrestle,” Bobby said. “Ya gotta remember that while I’m pretty nimble in either form, I’ve still got Metal in my neck, either way.”

“Sorry, hon–I wasn’t trying to hurtcha,” the younger bassist said sheepishly. “Actually, I didn’t tackle ya as hard as my instincts were telling me to ’cuz I knew ya weren’t even outta your postpartum period yet.”

“I know ya weren’t, but still,” he told him. “Just keep that in mind the next Time we’re both shifted and ya wanna wrestle.”

Rubbing the back of his neck as close to his upper back as he could reach, the older bassist decided that today was just one of those Days he’d have to break down and partake in the Elvin weed. He’d been fighting it since he hadn’t wanted to leave Duff completely on his own with a newborn, even though he knew he wasn’t a dummy in that department. But his pain was to the point that it was starting to give him a migraine, which’d keep him sacked out even longer, if he let it take full hold. To that End, he managed to get up from the floor so he could check on Ciaran again before heading out back.

Bobby couldn’t help a smile as he saw his kit sleeping peacefully in his cradle, occasionally suckling his paci as he Dreamed. He bent down just enough to kiss his chubby cheek, which made him smile around the nipple in his mouth, as he tucked him in. After he was reassured of his current contentment, he straightened with a grimace, Conjuring up one of the joints Rikki still made for him.

Grace, Mae, and even his mate were curious as he started for the foyer, pausing in the doorway to beckon to them. Knowing that big sister Maci’d keep an ear out for her baby brother, as well as that the Elves were always close at hand, was the only thing that made him okay with giving in. If not for those things, he’d have prolly kept fighting his pain till the migraine set in entirely and left him sacked out in the master suite for a week.

Said trio followed him out to the slightly-raised part of the patio on the far side of the pool and hot tub after they’d wound through the formal living and dining rooms. The kitchen was where the back door opened to the patio that was overlooked by the older bassist’s private balcony upstairs. It was the far side of the pool and hot tub that he’d chosen as his personal smoking spot, ’cuz it was just far enough away from the house to avoid giving anyone a contact high when he didn’t mean to, but close enough for him to get back inside on his own. And he always had trouble moving around once he was stoned, ’cuz it left him as off-balance as getting schnockered back in the Day.

“I’d suggest staying about six feet away, at the least,” Bobby chuckled, settling in his favorite patio chair under the awning that’d been erected for shade.

“Damn, is it really _that_ strong, hon?” his mate asked.

“You’ll wind up with a bigger contact high than anything ya _ever_ smoked back in the Day, if ya get any closer than that,” he laughed. “I put it to the test when Nikki told me that, and he wasn’t fuckin’ around.”

“Sweet Goddess,” Grace said with a giggle. “Sounds like it’s some damn good stuff.”

“I’m telling ya–three hits, and I’ll barely get back in the house on my own,” the older bassist swore, pulling his lighter outta his pocket. “And if it weren’t for having so many others to help out with Ciaran, I wouldn’t give in now, even though I’ve already been fighting my neck pain for a couple Days now.”

“Ya shoulda said something sooner, hon,” Duff gently reprimanded him. “Ya know I don’t mind watching him–he’s _my_ son, too, after all.”

“Doesn’t seem fair to do that to ya when I know I’ma be sacked out for at least two Days, though,” Bobby retorted with a shrug as he stuck the joint between his lips.

“Hell, I feel like I’ve barely taken care of him at all with ya nursing,” the younger bassist admitted as he struck his Zippo.

_“Mmm,”_ he hummed, sucking on the joint as he held the Flame to its End.

“Holy shit–that really _is_ strong,” the older McKagan daughter said from where she stood a good six feet away.

“Strong enough that I feel like I’ma wind up with a contact high, even from here,” Mae agreed.

“Told ya,” the older bassist chuckled, which made him cough as he let out his drag.

Duff was immediately clapping him on the back, careful to aim for closer to the bottom of his shoulder blades. “Breathe, hon.”

“Trust me, I’m more used to this than I’d like to admit,” he chuckled as he settled down.

Watching him with a careful eye, he let his mate take his second hit, unable to help a smirk as he watched him slowly melt into his chair. Clearly, whether it was of the Earthling or Elvin variety, this weed was helping get rid of the pain he knew drove him up a wall when it flared up. Even if it left him too stoned to move for two Days straight, he’d rather that than see him in so much pain that he couldn’t sleep to save his Life.

Bobby managed to reach over to the ash tray he kept out here and stub the joint out as soon as he’d taken his third hit. He knew his eyes were already looking glassy, considering how his head was already starting to spin from the high kicking in. Then again, judging by the looks he was getting from his mate and would-be stepdaughters, he knew he’d to be looking pretty goofy right about now.

Duff couldn’t help chuckling as he took in his mate’s relaxed expression, which looked pretty similar to when he’d get off pretty hard. Apparently, that chuckle was funny to said mate, who burst into giggles that made him seem a lot younger than he really was. Such behavior was pretty normal on even Earthling weed, so he didn’t really suppose it’d be much different with this stuff. If anything, he figured the only difference was the amount it’d take to get a user stoned off their ass, if it was really six Times stronger than anything he’d ever smoked. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, though, as long as it helped him and there was somebody here to look after him and their son both.

After giving himself a few minutes, the older bassist managed to push himself up outta his patio chair, swaying a bit as he paused to find his balance. His mate was instantly by his side and wrapping an arm around his waist, letting him lean on him as he wrapped his own around the back of his neck. Such an action was bittersweet, considering his memories of when Nikki’d do the same thing or simply pick him up and carry him. A soft sigh drifted past his lips as he was helped back inside, soon to be replaced by another giggle as the younger bassist got Bobby settled into his bed for some sleep.


	6. Six

It was another two Days before Bobby came down enough to do much more than giggle, sleep, and munch, just like he’d said. The thing that kept his mate from worrying about him was the fact that he _would_ wake up, let him help him to the bathroom, and do a lil munching every few hours. After all, his neck wasn’t bothering him, nor did he’ve a migraine, so he supposed doing such a thing was good for him. His being so silly and giggly till the high wore off was amusing, too, especially when he pulled his mate down for a sloppy kiss every Time he tucked him back in.

When he finally woke and managed to get outta bed on his own with more than ten percent Clarity, he decided a shower was in order. He still smelled like that Elvin weed–which’d a lil bit of Lavender mixed in to please his nose and help relax him–and it stunk, as far as he was concerned. Not only that, but it’d help chase off the last of his high so he could function at least semi-normally till he got coffee in him once he got downstairs.

Dressed in what Nikki’d always called their _lazy Day clothes,_ the older bassist managed a sad smile as he brushed his hair after that shower. It was every bit as wavy as it always was when he let it grow out, and it’d been one of his late husband’s favorite things about him. No matter how much he dyed and otherwise tortured it, it always remained so soft to the touch that it brought out the Neko’s fetish for soft things. Luckily, in being prone to migraines after his skull-collapsing accident, he’d known how to play with it without hurting him or triggering one of those migraines for him. That was the only thing that’d made him let him get away with playing with it whenever he felt like it, the touch Comforting.

As he got to the bottom of the stairs, Bobby was starting to wonder where his younger mate was since he hadn’t been there to greet him when he woke up. He’d thought he might be in the nursery with Ciaran, but a quick check’d proven him wrong, so he’d thought he was downstairs. Duff not being anywhere in sight and oddly quiet for once was starting to worry him, more than he’d like to admit.

“Duff?” he called out, hearing a soft murmur that was followed by an infantile giggle from the living room.

“Didn’t know my hair suddenly turned blonde, my Ancestry Irish,” the person responded as he walked in.

“OhmiGoddess, Zach!” Bobby cried, his face lighting up as he realized his oldest and youngest were spending some quality Time together.

“Hey, Mom,” he chuckled, wrapping his free arm around him once he joined him on the couch as his newest sibling waved the finger he was holding on to around.

“When’d ya get here, son?” the older bassist asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Yesterday,” Zach answered. “Duff said ya needed to hit the Elvin weed, and since I got Rikki to trade places with me, I ran that lovable blonde bastard off for a break of his own.”

“Oh, really?” he asked with a chuckle. “And how well’d _that_ go over?”

“Decently enough,” the young man answered, grinning. “I told him it was go spend some Time with his other family, or I’d drag him back to Rosalia with me so I could get away with flogging him right in the middle of town square.”

Bobby couldn’t help cracking up, Ciaran squealing and laughing as his big brother tickled him. “Oh–his first laugh!”

“Always one of the best Sounds, huh?” he asked.

“To a parent, hell yeah,” the older bassist answered. “You’ll get it one Day since you’re too much like Dad for your own good.”

“Yeah, I know.” Zach couldn’t help sighing as he looked up at him. “Speaking of Dad…how’re ya holding up? I know the anniversary of his Death was only a couple weeks before this lil guy was born, according to what Duff told me.”

“Pretty good for being only a Year out,” he answered with a sigh of his own. “Honestly, what Dad wound up doing prolly helped with that.”

The young man listened Intently as Bobby explained how his late husband had made his presence known the Night of that anniversary. He wasn’t surprised to hear that his father’d been torn between crossing over to await their eventual reunion and staying behind on this plane. If there was one thing that Cat’d been, it was ever-dedicated to his family and anyone else he even remotely held near and dear. Sure, that’d gotten him in a lotta trouble over the Years, but it’d also proven just what a good guy he really was at heart.

Zach pulled his mom close again when he teared up, surprised to hear him say that he and Duff’d gotten to watch him, his Grampa Franco, and his great-grandparents cross over. He admitted that Nikki’d also paid him a visit as he was heading off to bed that Night, wanting to finally tell him how much he loved him before he left. As far as he knew, he’d done that with the rest of his siblings, too, so he figured he musta been saving the best for last, as it were.

Sniffling even as he smiled at him, the older bassist said it’d definitely been something special since all four Spirits’d gotten to witness his younger mate’s proposal before they crossed over. Getting a glimpse of the _Sidhe_ they resided in in their Afterlife was certainly an Awe-Inspiring sight for them, especially him. That was what made him Conjure up an old album he’d started without his late husband realizing it, then flip it open. It was stuffed full of pictures that he’d taken of various paintings the Cat’d done when he was feeling bored and artistic. There was one in particular that came to mind as he was trying to describe what he’d seen through that Portal to his son that he wanted to show him.

Bobby pointed to one in particular that was of a gorgeous, secluded Meadow with a couple fruit Trees growing in it. There was a small Pond that’d a Waterfall draining into it, a small Cave formed by the rock outcropping that extended from said Waterfall. In its Center, a Pentacle was formed by the grass being cut in just the right places, an Altar set up in the Center of the Pentacle.

“What I saw through that Portal looked a lot like this,” he told him. “It didn’t have the Pentacle cut into the grass or the Altar, but it’d pretty much everything else–even Faeries flitting around as they played near their mini- _Sidhe.”_

“It’s fuckin’ gorgeous,” Zach breathed in Awe, even Ciaran glancing over. “What is it, buddy? Ya wanna see it, too?”

The kit laying in his lap made what sounded like a positive noise and reached for the photo album.

“I guess he does,” the older bassist chuckled, moving it so he could see as he pointed to the picture he’d been talking about. “Your half-daddy, Nikki, painted that when Bubba Zach was a baby.”

Ciaran’s eyes widened, full of childlike Wonder and Awe as he gazed at the picture.

“Half-daddy?” his oldest laughed. “That’s a new one on me, Mom.”

“Well, it’s true, when ya think about it,” Bobby told him. “Nikki woulda loved him like he really was his own, even though he’s obviously Duff’s. And I don’t think stepdad quite fits the bill since I kinda think about it like him being the rest of ya kids’ half-brother.”

“Eh, I didn’t think about it like that,” he said thoughtfully. “But yeah, you’re kinda right.”

“But yeah–in all Honesty, I miss Nikki, and I damn sure Wish he was still here with us,” the older bassist sighed as he closed the photo album. “Then again, at the same Time, I’m kinda glad he’s gone.”

“I think I’m just glad not to hear any malice in your voice when ya phrase it like that,” Zach told him.

“Well, ya saw how miserable he was as he lost full Control over his body those last four months,” he reminded him. “Your dad hated living like that, even when he knew he was getting better from a case of pneumonia. Howddaya think he felt, knowing that he was only gonna keep getting worse till it all finally Ended, rather than getting better?”

“Hey, I get it, Mom,” he told him. “I told ya, I wanted to go in there and be an angel of Mercy so many Times, it was un-fuckin’-real.”

Bobby couldn’t help nodding his agreement as he hugged his oldest, smiling when his youngest grabbed a hank of his hair and started projecting again. It’d been a surprise when he’d done that the Day of his Birth, but that just proved how quick he’d caught on to what he and the Elves’d been teaching him while he was still in utero.

When he started squirming like he needed a diaper change, Zach lifted him up to cuddle against his chest as he rose. Reaching back down, he grabbed his mom’s hand and pulled him up to his feet, looking even more like his dad than he knew. Yeah, he’d more of his mom’s features in terms of how his eyes were tilted, what Color they were, etc.–enough to look like his clone, actually–but he’d a lot more of his dad’s personality and mannerisms. He’d been that way since before he was born, himself and the older bassist didn’t anticipate it Changing after nearly thirty Years.

As he worked on changing his youngest brother so his mom could make himself some coffee, the young man filled him in on his Life of the past Year. Sure, being the newest King of Rosalia’d been tough at first, especially since he’d been grieving on top of it. Having Rikki stick around for a while, not to mention his grampa’s and dad’s late Royal adviser, Janus, had helped with all the adjusting and learning how to rule his Birth right–or rather, what his older brother’d passed on to him.

Unable to help a smile as he listened, Bobby was glad to hear that he was actually enjoying being a King, and that he was able to live in the last house his late husband had ever owned. He made no bones about there being a lotta memories–some good, others bad–in that house for him, but that was all part of its Charm for him. Even when it hurt to go in or look at certain parts of the house ’cuz they’d been some of his dad’s favorites, he kept in mind that his dad had been happy there. Maybe he’d been miserable right there at the End due to his physical condition, but when it was all said and done, there was no other place he’d rather’ve been aside from with his mate.

“That’s what makes it easier for me,” Zach admitted, picking his brother up off the changing mat as he moved to throw away his dirty diaper. “I know there were a few bad Times–like when you’d first leave for a tour and he’d get kinda depressed–but he loved it in that house.”

“Yeah, he really did,” the older bassist agreed with a nod. “Then again, he _did_ design that house himself, so I’d be surprised, if he didn’t.”

“Wait, really?” He looked surprised. “Dad really designed that house?”

“Never knew that, did ya?” Bobby chuckled, sipping his coffee. “But, yeah–Dad designed that house from the ground up ’cuz he couldn’t find anything nearby that he liked so we could just move in. He wanted the build style to be more familiar to us and our American ways, but still fit in with the local architecture.”

“Well, I’d say he did a damn good job, then,” his oldest said. “Ya can tell it’s an American build, for sure, but the style–inside and out–is all Italian.”

“And that’s exactly what he was going for, with an obvious lavish touch,” he said. “Gotta befit two rock stars, after all.”

“No shit,” Zach chuckled, rubbing his brother’s back when he started to fuss again. “Well, gimme a minute–I gotta call Grama Sirena unless Mama thinks he’s safe to nurse.”

“Ran outta bottles?” the older bassist asked, unbuttoning his shirt.

“Yeah, yesterday afternoon,” he answered, nodding. “Ya were dead to the World, so I gave Sirena a mental call since I knew she’d played wet-nurse for ya before.”

“Best thing ya coulda done,” Bobby told him, taking his youngest. “He might get a lil bit of a contact high as it is, but nothing like he’d have gotten for the past couple Days. And ya know how I am about my kits being fed all-Natural.”

“Yeah, it kinda drove me nuts as a kit sometimes,” the young man admitted with a chuckle.

“Blame Dad–he’s the one who got me started on that before ya were even conceived,” he laughed.

“Damn, really?” Zach asked, surprised.

As he got his newest kit settled to nurse, the older bassist explained how Nikki’d grown up on hand-grown and all-Natural since he was raised in the nineteenth Century. Once he was grown, his system just couldn’t tolerate all the preservatives and other shit that started getting put in processed foods. He couldn’t help a grimace as he recalled how he’d be in and outta the bathroom for Days, if he was forced to eat such shit, ’cuz it’d tear his stomach up so bad.

The young man couldn’t help a wince at the Thought of what his dad went through, and he didn’t just mean his hypoglycemia, asthma, and the intolerance to chlorophyll he’d eventually admitted to having. Anyone watching from the outside woulda thought he was just any other guy, but there was so much more to him than what met the eye. On top of the Natural Health problems he was apparently born with, he’d the constant agony of his chronic back pain and migraines. When one added in the narcolepsy and problems regulating certain bodily functions–which even included his libido and corresponding hormones–it was a Wonder his quality of Life’d been half as good as it was his last fifty Years or so.

Bobby chuckled as he reminded him what a stubborn Cat his dad had been, how he’d been determined to walk again instead of be wheelchair-bound after that accident. Since he was stuck with a prosthetic leg to help make him look normal, he’d said he wanted to be able to use it instead of the gov’ment having just wasted money on giving him a huge paper weight.

Zach couldn’t help a laugh as he admitted that he was right about that, agreeing that it made no sense to have something like that attached to him and be unable to use it. He wouldn’t have wanted to wind up with replacement limbs, then be stuck with an inability to use them since he’d rather just roll or walk around with a useless stump instead. Naturally, that just proved how much like his dad he really was to his mom, who couldn’t help tearing up slightly with Pride. Even though he Wished Nikki was still here to see this for himself, he knew he’d be proud of their oldest, too.

“Hey, Zach.”

Turning slightly, the young man saw his would-be stepdad and stepsisters behind him. “I thought I told ya to get lost and go have fun, Duff.”

“We wanted to see Ciaran again,” Grace laughed, Mae grinning.

“Yeah, kinda got strong-armed into coming home as much as I got strong-armed into leaving,” Duff chuckled, his eyes lighting up when he saw his mate. “Course, it looks like the girls’re gonna be waiting a bit longer.”

_“Awww,”_ they cooed, finally noticing their baby brother in his mama’s arms. “Looks like somebody was hungry.”

“Yeah, he was,” Bobby chuckled, rubbing said kit’s back as he suckled. “Sirena’s pretty good at keeping up with the demand, but my kits’ve always been more like piglets.”

“Wait, what?” His younger mate looked surprised.

“Ran outta bottles yesterday afternoon,” Zach chuckled. “Sirena used to nurse the rest of us when Mom needed her to, and since he’s a stickler about his kits being fed all-Natural, I just gave her a mental call.”

“I think he coulda made do with formula,” the younger bassist said with a chuckle of his own.

“Over my cold, dead body, hon,” his mate retorted vehemently. “Nikki got me into the all-Natural thing before Zach was even an itch in his britches, and I’m not Changing that now.”

The younger bassist cocked a brow, looking curious.

“Nikki grew up in the nineteenth Century, remember?” Bobby said, moving to burp their son when he spit his nipple out.

“Yeah, I remember–surprised the fuck outta me to find out how old he really was,” he answered.

“Well, he couldn’t handle all the preservatives in processed food–they’d tear his stomach up like there was no tomorrow,” the older bassist explained. “Since he couldn’t have processed shit, I switched my own diet, and I never went back.”

“No Wonder all the food here at your house tastes so clean and fresh,” Grace mused.

“That’s ’cuz Rikki, Sirena, and I keep it spelled so we don’t need shit like herb- and pesticides,” he explained. “That, and we keep it spelled so that pretty much anything’ll produce a crop, no matter what Time of Year it is.”

“What about hunting?” Duff asked curiously.

“Hey, I’m no dummy with a rifle–or any other firearm, for that matter,” Bobby chuckled. “I _was_ mated and handfasted to a former Marine for twenty-nine Years.”

“Add in Rikki teaching him how to hunt like an old-World archer the same way he says he taught Dad, and he can get all kindsa meat without shifting,” his oldest chuckled. “Not to mention we, kits don’t mind stepping up and helping him out when he needs it.”

“Like when he’s a newborn to take care of, right?” Mae asked.

“Exactly, considering how busy a newborn’ll keep a parent on their own,” Zach answered.

Both girls looked to their own dad, who couldn’t help a chuckle as he nodded his agreement with that statement. He said that while their oldest stepbrother might not actually have kits of his own yet, he’d no doubt helped out with his siblings over the decades. Even though that wouldn’t give him quite the same taste of the _up-all-Nights_ and constant feedings and diaper changes, it woulda given him at least a lil bit of one.

As he handed the newborn in question over to his impatient daddy, even Bobby agreed that helping with the rest of his siblings woulda taught Zach a lot about parenting. There were some things he’d never get without having at least a single kit of his own–like the worry-induced insomnia whenever said kit was sick–but he’d find out one Day.

Mae couldn’t help her Curiosity as she asked what he meant by that, and the older bassist smiled a bit sadly as he looked at said oldest. He told her that while he might look like a clone of him physically, he was all clone of his dad up top, as far as he was concerned. It still surprised him just how much like Nikki he could act sometimes, especially when he did it Intentionally ’cuz he was acting out a scene from one of his childhood memories.

Even Duff was surprised to hear that the oldest bassist originally hadn’t wanted kids, but his reason of not wanting to pass on any of his Health problems made sense once they were told. And he wasn’t surprised that once Nikki’d found out he _was_ a dad when Lee’d so suddenly Returned to his Life, he’d embraced it like everything else he was passionate about. No doubt that was part of why he hadn’t been upset when they’d found out the young man before him was in the making. The Thought of getting to add to his family, even if it came with a few bad parts, no doubt outweighed every single one of those bad parts tenfold. He knew that’d been true for himself when he’d found out Grace was on the way, not long before his third anniversary of surviving his bout of pancreatitis.

His girls were surprised to hear what a drunk their dad had been back in the Day, but hearing his reason for getting dried out–and the ones for staying that way–made them all the more proud of him. Chuckling, Zach wrapped his arms around their shoulders and said that now that they knew how he felt about his mom. They were surprised to find out that Bobby’d been almost as bad a drunk, but had gone cold-turkey upon finding out about his first pregnancy and stayed clean ever since. It seemed that every Time they turned around, there was a new surprise being revealed, but pretty much all of them were good in one way or another, and they were proud to be part of the crazy family Nikki’d started.


	7. Seven

As the next few months continued to pass, Bobby enjoyed getting to be off the road after making it through Poison’s _Nothin’ but a Good Time_ tour during his last pregnancy. His mate telling the rest of GN’R to suck his dick and skipping out on the first part of their _Not in this Lifetime…_ tour was funnier than hell, too.

Duff’d begged his band mates and management not to schedule a tour that was gonna take him away from home in November and December, although he wouldn’t tell them why. When they’d forged ahead and done it, anywhore–well, he hadn’t kept quiet about getting former bassist Tommy Stinson to fill in for him. He’d meant what he said about not touring during that Time due to personal reasons, and if they’d thought he’d Change his mind, they were sadly mistaken. They knew he loved what he did–that he loved being a part of his first successful band again–but some things came first.

The couple’d eventually been forced to reveal their relationship, as well as being new parents, when both their bands’d shown up during the holiday Season. Grace and Mae’d kinda been strong-armed into bringing the GN’R guys with them for the _Yule_ celebration the older bassist still did. Poison’d finally tracked their own bassist down after worrying about him during their last tour ’cuz he’d been so tired and seemed so sick during the Beginning of it.

Naturally, they were all surprised to find out that this pair of bassists were mated, but Bret, Rikki, and CC couldn’t have been happier. They’d seen just how in Love the older of this pair and his late husband were over the decades, and when they’d heard the news, they’d honestly thought he wouldn’t survive such a loss. Looking back on it, they shoulda known he was a stronger Fox than that, but knowing he’d somebody to help get him through it made them worry a lil less now. Granted, the entirety of both bands–even former GN’R rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin–was surprised to find out that not only was Duff a Witch by Birth, but he was also a quarter Zorro on top of it.

“Hey, ya act like I _wasn’t_ shocked when I found out,” said younger bassist’d laughed as he cuddled his month-old son.

“It’s just–why didn’tcha show the ears before?” Axl asked, his eyes wide with shock.

“Didn’t have a choice in it,” he answered, shrugging. “My dad Shrouded that part of me ’cuz he was ashamed to have what he considered a freak for a son, which’s why I don’t talk to him anymore.”

None of their guests could help a wince as they processed that.

“Gotta be harsh, man,” Bret said sympathetically. “I mean, I know my parents divorced when I was young, too, but I couldn’t imagine not having my dad in my Life now.”

“I couldn’t before I was forced to make that choice, either,” Duff agreed. “But some things, ya just don’t do to a kid. I consider abuse and hiding significant parts of their own Ancestry from them like that two of those things.”

“The sad Truth of the matter’s that Nikki’d agree wholeheartedly,” Poison’s drummer spoke up. “He’d be the first to say that hiding shit by choice’s one thing, but having it forcibly Hidden–and for such a bullshit reason–is another.”

“He really would,” the older bassist agreed, nodding as the rest of GN’R looked at him curiously. “Nikki hid a lotta shit from public eyes–some by choice, other parts ’cuz he was forced to by outside parties–but he never did it with any kinda malicious Intent.”

“What all could he’ve hidden?” Izzy asked curiously. “Aside from being a former Marine and heir to a Throne, that is.”

“Well, he didn’t really talk about being the Crown Prince of Rosalia before his Coronation made him King ’cuz it was kinda like his eyes to him,” Bobby answered. “It was something he considered special enough to keep private, so while the World knew he _was_ a King, he didn’t talk about the Day-to-Day parts of ruling his own country.”

“I guess I can kinda get that,” Slash said with a nod. “Didn’t he actually End up expanding his Kingdom by overtaking part of Italy?”

“He did, and while I was on tour,” he chuckled. “His grand plan was to gain access to the Adriatic Sea so Rosalians could have Saltwater varieties of Fish, too. He wanted to do it peacefully with Italy, but when they decided to play hardball–well, he showed them how much better he was at _that_ game.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” they all laughed.

The older bassist leaned against Duff as he continued by telling them that–as a former Marine–he’d seen, done, and heard shit worse than anything he’d ever experienced in his band. He told them the story of how he’d once watched his best friend–the namesake of his son Gunner–take a bullet right between the eyes when they were on guard duty together. Nikki’d told him that he’d Scried a couple Nights before that and gotten a warning about that Day, but he hadn’t known exactly what was gonna happen, so he hadn’t made the man switch positions with him.

Another thing that’d shocked them to find out was how the oldest bassist’d been captured as a POW sometime in early-1966. His harrowing story about how he’d been held captive for months, only being allowed free reign of where he was held due to being such an awesome chef, captivated them. Even Steven Adler was disturbed when told he’d nearly been burnt alive for not giving up gov’ment Secrets, his platoon coming to his rescue at the very last second.

Still, they were captivated as he went on to say that another Time he’d been captured as a POW’d Ended when he’d used his Knowledge of Herbology to his advantage. Bobby laughed as he recounted how his late husband had told him about how he’d noticed they’d various forms of Nightshade growing in their garden. No doubt his captors’d thought the plants harmless since they produced things like Maters, Taters, and various Berries, but being the highly-intelligent and well-educated Cat he was, Nikki’d known how to use those plants as weapons of mass murder. All he’d done was tell them that they were harmless herbs as he mixed them into his sketti sauce, then watched the carnage unfold.

“He was such a devious sum-bitch,” Slash laughed. “Always had more going on up top than I think anyone ever realized.”

“And that was part of what appealed to me before we ever figured out we were mated,” the older bassist chuckled. “As a Scorpio, I’ve a Secretive bent of my own that I can’t help, so his own Secretive and devious Nature Called to me.”

“That’s why he became your Sir, right?” his younger mate asked curiously.

“What?” Izzy asked before he could answer. “Your _Sir?”_

“Shit–sorry, hon,” Duff said, blushing sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told him, even though he _was_ a lil miffed. “What Duff means, though, gets into shit I don’t talk about with my minor kits–and with good reason.”

“Just leave it, man,” Poison’s lead guitarist told his counterpart when he started to demand an answer. “Bret, Rikki, and I know what he’s talking about, and he’s right when he says it shouldn’t be discussed in front of kids.”

“All right, all right,” the brunette guitarist acquiesced, but they could tell he was still curious.

“But another one of Nikki’s Secrets that few ever knew about–remember his addictions from back in the Day?” Bobby asked.

“How could anyone forget about those?” GN’R’s lead guitarist snorted. “Dude shot up, snorted, and smoked more than prolly any of the rest of us combined ever did.”

“It wasn’t just to Silence his demons like he let the World believe,” he told them.

“Then why?” Axl asked. “’Cuz this sounds like it’s gonna be good.”

“He was nearly blown apart–literally,” the older bassist answered, not surprised by their shocked looks.

“Wait, you’re fuckin’ shitting us, right?” Even Rikki was shocked since they hadn’t even told the rest of Poison.

Shaking his head, Bobby explained what he’d been told about June sixteenth, 1970 by his late husband’s grampa and former–now late–commanding officer. He said that, going by the spoken testimony and written records, the oldest bassist’d been trying to get to one of his piss-ons after he got shot in the thigh. Only about six feet from his target, a landmine’d exploded roughly six feet to his left, sending him four stories into the Air.

Landing flat on his back once he plummeted back to Earth, he’d blown out pretty much his entire spine from the base of his skull to the tip of his tail. His utility helmet hadn’t been able to stop the damage caused by slamming the back of his head into the ground, which’d left part of his brains in Vietnam–literally–and caused his skull to collapse like a cardboard box.

What was even worse to a lotta those who’d actually witnessed it was that as they watched him come back down for his nasty landing, they’d also watched the majority of his left limbs rain down in bloody chunks. There was even one anonymous account from a soldier who’d witnessed all of this about part of Nikki’s arm landing on top of his helmet before it fell off and hit the ground. How he’d made it off the battlefield alive was a Mystery for the Ages, ’cuz by all rights, the head injury alone shoulda killed him right off the bat. If not that, then pretty much snapping his neck, or even the blood loss from the arteries in his limbs being left open to pour blood.

Duff was horrified as he listened, suddenly sitting up a lil straighter as something clicked for him that he’d been trying to figure out for decades. Looking his mate dead in the eye, he said that he thought his own dad might very well be the author of that anonymous account. Everyone was horrified when he recounted how his dad would wake up, screaming about bloody chunks and an arm hitting him during his childhood. Remembering how Mac’d refused to talk about the date in particular, even after admitting who his former commanding officer was, was what made him think that.

“Ya know, ya might just be right, hon,” Bobby said thoughtfully. “I mean, if I were to see that kinda thing, I’d like to think it’d scar me for Life, too.”

“And Dad always said he didn’t know what happened to Col. Feranna,” he agreed. “He’d honestly thought he was dead all those Years, considering what he’d to’ve witnessed with his own eyes and ears.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it, then,” Izzy spoke up. “I’ve heard veterans say that War Changes a man, but they never would say how or why.”

“Well, needless to say, Nikki’d his fair share of physical problems as a result of that,” the older bassist continued. “He lived in chronic agony from the spinal issues–I mean, worse than anything Mick’s ever thought of having to live through.”

“Jesus Christ,” GN’R’s front man winced.

“Add in the narcolepsy, various hormone imbalances, and problems with stupid shit like regulating his body temp, and he really had it bad,” Bobby told them.

“Wait, what?” Steven asked, shocked.

“His thalamus and hypothalamus looked more like a raisin on a CAT scan,” he explained. “I saw a few for myself, and I couldn’t believe he’d survived, let alone was more than a vegetable after that.”

“No fuckin’ shit,” CC said. “Makes even Ozzy look like a brain-dead ol’ fart after all the drugs he was on back in the Day.”

“Well, Nikki’d to get high on coke to keep himself awake, ’cuz nothing else’d work,” the older bassist continued. “Not even gallons of coffee’d keep him awake like a normal person, or keep the cataplexy from acting up when he laughed.”

“Cataplexy?” Slash asked.

“Remember the Times he’d laugh at something ya said, then go completely limp for a few minutes like he’d passed out?” Bobby countered.

The lead guitarist could only nod.

“That was the cataplexy acting up,” he told him. “It’s REM sleep paralyisis, just when the victim’s wide awake. They can often be mistaken as being dead, ’cuz their vitals’ll drop so low, they’re pretty much unreadable.”

“Holy fuck,” everyone in the room breathed, their eyes wide.

“But he eventually needed to come down from all the coke so he _could_ sleep, not to mention have something for the pain,” the older bassist continued.

“Enter the smack,” Izzy said, nodding as he started to get it.

“Exactly, ’cuz that was the only thing strong enough to counter it,” Bobby agreed, Returning the nod. “So, it was never that he was purely stupid, or had more money than sense–he’d damn good reasons for what he did.”

“But what about the hormonal imbalances and whatnot?” Axl asked.

“There were some Days that he could produce enough testosterone and whatnot on his own–others, not so much,” he answered. “Some Days, he’d be insatiable in the bedroom, to the point that even I could barely keep up–others, we’d pretty much have to use our magick like a defibrillator on his dick to get it to cooperate.”

“Damn, it’s a Wonder you’d eight kits together,” Bret winced.

Nodding, the older bassist explained that–due to the region of his brain that’d remained damaged all those Years later–he’d trouble with stupid shit like regulating his body temp. Sometimes he’d overheat to the point that he’d go outside and lay on concrete stark-nekkid in the middle of Winter ’cuz nothing else’d cool him off. Other Times, he’d get so cold that they’d have to wrap him up in fifteen blankets after he’d put on his warmest PJs, all the kits cuddling with him as they were born to help get him warm by sharing body heat.

Even Axl started to realize just how hard the Neko’s Life’d been in all the Years he’d known him, and that made him feel bad. He wouldn’t ever apologize for some of the fights he’d started or otherwise been involved in with the rest of Mötley Crüe, but now he couldn’t help but Wish he’d been able to apologize to the oldest bassist before it was too late.

Bobby made sure he knew that his late husband hadn’t held any of that shit against him, ’cuz while he mighta held a grudge against him at first, he’d let it go eventually. He was just slow to let go and move on sometimes, depending on what’d happened to make him hold a grudge in the first place. Even when it made him wanna knock Lights out, he’d forgive and forget so he could live in Peace eventually, rather than spending the rest of his Days miserable over it.

That’d given both their bands more Insight into the kinda guy Nikki’d really been, and why the older bassist’d been hit so hard by his Death. Hearing what the mating pull really felt like–which even Duff could confirm for them–really made them start to understand. Now the rest of GN’R felt bad for trying to drag their remaining band mate on the road when his mate’d needed him, and they could forgive him for the choice he’d made. They understood that he wasn’t trying to thumb his nose at them–well, not completely, anywhore–but he’d honestly been worried about the brunette. Knowing that he’d been expecting another child he hadn’t told them about made them realize that woulda compounded his worry and made him even more reluctant to leave.

All of the bands–even the rest of Mötley–now had a better Understanding of what’d really been going on right under their noses all those Years. That was part of why finding out his late husband’s band Intended to move ahead with the movie project they’d in the works for decades made Bobby proud. Work on a movie rendition of their joint book, _The Dirt,_ had started back around the Time the book was released, but it’d never gone anywhere. Once they finally managed to hammer things out so they could start casting and filming, even Vince swore they were gonna have it dedicated to their fallen band mate in the Ending credits.

“I mean, I don’t mind ya doing that,” Bobby told them when they’d paid him a visit to talk about that a couple weeks after New Year’s. “He was the main songwriter of the band, if nothing else–he deserves a final salute from ya, as it were.”

“That’s what we were thinking,” Tommy said. “But we didn’t wanna actually do it without talking to his remaining family about it.”

“Since you’re his widower, we wanted ya to be the first one we sat down with,” Mick added. “Consider it done outta Respect, if nothing else.”

“Well, that and Lee’s a hard man to catch these Days,” the front man laughed.

“And fuck, Zach’s just as hard to get in touch with,” the drummer agreed.

“Well, ya know–ruling your own country’s a hard job,” he chuckled as he thought about how busy his oldest normally was.

“Apparently so,” the guitarist chuckled.

“He’d to get Elvin Rikki to trade places with him for a couple weeks after Ciaran was born so he could finally pop in to visit and meet him,” the oldest bassist said. “And that didn’t happen till right before _Yule_ when he was already a month old.”

They couldn’t help a sympathetic wince, all of them getting distracted by a tapping at the window.

“Well, well, well,” Bobby chuckled when he looked up to see the source.

“What on Earth?” Vince asked, gasping as he opened the window. “Bobby, what’re ya doing?”

“I think someone’s something they wanna say,” he laughed, letting the Cardinal that was sitting there patiently hop onto his hand.

“What’re ya talking about?” Even the guitarist was confused.

Quickly explaining what he’d to explain to Duff when he was in labor, he let the Bird hop off his palm and rest on the coffee table.

“So, you’re saying that’s Nikki?” Mick asked, sounding a hair incredulous.

The Cardinal gave a disdainful chirp, staring dead at him as it did.

“Okay, no doubts now,” he laughed. “I know that tone all too well, bassist, even if I’m not used to it coming out in the form of a chirp.”

Said Bird chirped again, this one sounding much happier as it preened slightly.

“So, what on Earth’re ya doing here in the form of a Bird?” the front man asked curiously, Tommy staring in Awe.

“Since the Veils’re too thick for him to cross over long enough to pass on any messages, he sent back enough of his Energy to hitch a ride in a form he knew I’d get the significance of,” Bobby explained.

“I guess that makes sense,” the drummer said, nodding.

Before the surviving brunette bassist could say anything else, the Cardinal turned to peck at its wing for a moment. When it turned its attention back to the remains of Mötley Crüe, it held three bright red Feathers in its beak. Almost instantly, the widower of the man who’d hitched a ride with this Bird got the significance and looked up at the guys with wide eyes.

“He’s Blessing your Intent with the movie,” he told them.

“Wait, what?” Vince asked, sounding surprised.

“How many Feathers do ya see in its beak?” the older bassist countered, giving the Bird on his coffee table a pointed look.

“Thr–oh, my God,” Tommy gasped, his own eyes widening. “Guys, he’s gotta be right. There’s only three of us surviving, there’s only three Feathers, and Nikki woulda given anything except his family to see this movie finally happen.”

The Cardinal chirped around the Feathers it still held in its beak, letting each of them take one.

“And no doubt he’s Blessing your Intent to make sure the movie’s dedicated to him since he obviously can’t be here to take part in its actual Creation like he wanted to be all those Years,” Bobby said.

Another chirp rang out before the Bird turned its attention to him.

“Ya know I’ll keep watch over these lovable idiots, love,” he promised when it gave him a bit of a hard look as he picked up on the message his late husband was trying to give him through his Energy.

The Bird gave a satisfied chirp before nuzzling itself against his hand, then turning to look at the open window behind the couch. With a couple flaps of its wings, it lifted off the coffee table and headed for that window, flying to a Tree not far outside it that it lit on one of the branches of. Each remaining member of Mötley Crüe chuckled as they watched the Bird cock its head at them as if saying, _Well_ – _what’re ya waiting for, asshats?_ the same way their fallen band mate woulda.

As they bid their goodbyes to Bobby so they could head out to meet with the director they’d picked to work on the movie, the younger bassist Returned from the store with their son in his arms. He cocked a brow at them, his mate moving to give him a kiss and take their son as he explained what’d happened in his absence while seeing the guys out.

Duff couldn’t help a chuckle as he started putting up what he’d run out to get, saying that he was glad to hear they were still including Nikki as much as they could include a dead man. He was also glad to hear that the late bassist apparently approved of their plans, considering the fairly obvious sign he’d given them. Even still, he knew damn good and well that being a part of the movie–even just by coaching whoever was cast to play his late husband–was gonna be hard for the older bassist, but he was there for him all the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Annnnd_ this is where the Timeline startsta get a lil off...I blame that on being distracted by listening to Cinderella's _Gypsy Road_ while I was writing this chapter. LOL! That, and I've also written more of this story while highly sleep-deprived than I haven't, so that no doubt added to my own slight confusion.
> 
> Even though I know damn good and well _The Dirt_ debuted on Netflix on 22 March, 2019, I'ma just extend everything by a Year starting at this point. Anything they've released publicly from the movie to the tour dates for what they're calling _The Stadium Tour_ with Poison, Def Leppard, and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts'll be on the same Timeline.
> 
> I'm not guaranteeing I'll have the same lineup on the tour roster 'cuz I've never really liked Def Leppard, and I can only name one song by Joan Jett off the top of my head, but the tour dates, stadiums, etc. will be the same. But hey, that's the great thing about basing fiction off fact–ya can twist and bend anything to your Will, but still have it make sense in the End. LOL!  
> ~Firefly


	8. Eight

Work on Mötley Crüe’s bioepic seemed to go off without a hitch, if one didn’t count one of the crew members getting mildly electrocuted during a lighting change on-set at one point. Casting was the difficult part, ’cuz they’d to not only make sure the actors looked relatively similar to the band members, but they’d to be able to pull off their mannerisms. It hadn’t taken as long to cast folks for the roles of Vince, Mick, and Tommy–the guy cast to play the drummer was practically identical to his _character_ –but that last band member was harder.

He’d been so tall Naturally that nobody put on stilts could manage to move as fluidly and Gracefully as he’d always done. Even the ones who looked the most similar to him couldn’t manage it, and their knees didn’t bend right so that it looked Natural when they were walking on those stilts. That was the part that’d made Bobby veto just about every guy who’d auditioned, although said actors didn’t know he was the one at the helm and making those calls.

At one point, their director–the same guy who’d directed the _Jackass_ movie–suggested getting one of the kits to play their dad. Problem with that was the only one who acted enough like him was Zach, and he couldn’t leave Rosalia for months on End to film a movie. Not only that, but while he’d his dad’s mannerisms down perfectly, he looked too much like his mom to pull it off.

Just when they’d thought they weren’t gonna get to film the movie, after all, a young British actor by the name of Douglas Booth walked in to audition. At first glance, he looked like he coulda been every bit Nikki’s six-foot-six, and he looked eerily similar to him when it came to facial features. If they hadn’t known any better, they’d have sworn this guy coulda actually been a kitten the late bassist’d never known he’d fathered. The thing that nixed that Thought real quick, though, was that his eyes were a bit too Dark to’ve been inherited from the man he was auditioning to play. A simple _mraw_ from his widower–who was in Fox form–confirmed a lack of shared blood between the two in mere seconds.

“What the hell?” Doug asked, looking more than a bit surprised to see a Fox curled up in Tommy’s lap. “Why’s there a Fox in here?”

“You’d be surprised, dude,” the drummer answered with a laugh.

“Let’s see whatcha got, though,” Vince told him. He wasn’t about to say that the ultimate judgment wasn’t up to them, but rather the Fox he’d just questioned the presence of.

“All right, then,” he agreed, his British accent pretty strong.

Even Mick was surprised when that accent disappeared, only to be replaced by the one similar to Duff’s the late bassist’d perpetrated during his Music career. “Damn, this kid’s good.”

“Yeah, I’ll say,” the front man agreed. “Whaddaya think, Bobby?”

Looking down when he failed to get a response, he saw his friend’s widower watching the young man Intently.

“I think he’s still deciding,” the guitarist chuckled under his breath.

_“Mraw.”_ Bobby bobbed his head once in lieu of a nod, clearly telling them to shut up so he could pay attention.

“So, um–how was that?” the poor guy asked nervously once he’d run through the scene they picked out for him.

“We’re all for it, kid,” Vince chuckled. “But there’s one more vote we need.”

Doug looked confused, then practically tripped over his own feet and fell on his ass when the Fox he was holding jumped down and turned into a man. “What the fuck!?”

“Surprise, kiddo,” the widower chuckled.

“How the fuck’d ya do that?” he asked, gaping up at him as he reached down to help him up.

“Something I was born with,” Bobby answered, easily pulling him up.

_“Oooo…kaaaay,”_ he said, quite literally shaking it off. “So, whose vote’re ya waiting on?”

“Mine,” the older bassist answered, the others nodding their agreement.

“Wait, yours?” the poor guy asked, confused. “Why your vote, though?”

“How much do ya know about Mötley Crüe?” he countered curiously. “And I’m talking the behind-the-scenes shit, not the public shit.”

Doug couldn’t do more than shrug as he looked confused.

Sighing, Bobby told him to sit down as he claimed the chair next to Vince, his tail wrapping around his waist as it often did when he was in human form. He pretended not to notice the kid’s surprised look when he saw the bushy mass do that, easily getting his attention back on his face. Surprise colored his features as he explained the inner workings of the band that involved him, and therefore why it’d be his vote that’d finally land an actor cast as Nikki.

Needless to say, the poor guy was shocked to find out that the late bassist’d been mated and handfasted to another guy, considering how much of a ladies’ man he was purported to be. He was even more shocked to find out that the kids he’d always talked about so lovingly really _were_ with the man he’d spent nearly thirty Years with.

But even Doug wasn’t immune to a few tears when he was finally told that his remaining band mates were leaving the Honor of picking his portrayer up to his widower ’cuz he was dead. He hadn’t realized the poor guy’d passed a lil over a Year ago, if only ’cuz he hadn’t really listened to hair metal when he was younger. That was the biggest reason why he hadn’t known much about the band before he’d come in to audition at his manager’s insistence, ’cuz he supposedly looked like the guy. If he’d known, he’d have offered his condolences to all of them the second he walked in the door, ’cuz that was just the kinda guy he was.

Managing a smile, Bobby assured him that it was fine since they’d purposely kept his Death as quiet as they could, considering his fame. He told him that his late husband wouldn’t have wanted to be remembered as lil more than a vegetable who’d to be cared for like an infant by the Time he died. That confused the poor guy, and he released his breath in a heavy sigh before he even tried to explain.

“He was diagnosed with Creuztfeldt-Jakob disease four months before he passed,” the bassist explained. “There’re several different causes for it, and not so much as a treatment, let alone a cure.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Doug said.

“Not when it entails a type of protein called prions basically eating away at the brain till it’s nothing but a sponge incompatible with Life,” he told him, shaking his head.

“Oh, my God,” the kid breathed, his eyes widening as he covered his mouth.

“Nikki’d spent six months slowly losing Control of his body and what was left of his mind before he ever got diagnosed,” Bobby continued, making the rest of the band gasp since they hadn’t known that part before. “Those last four months–well, it only took about six weeks for him to be bedridden and barely able to even grunt by way of responding to something said to him.”

“Holy fuck,” Tommy said, reaching over to gently rub his back when he choked up. “Dude, I can’t really think of any decent way to respond to that.”

“No doubt it practically tore ya apart to see him like that,” Vince agreed.

“Oh, it did,” the bassist answered, reaching up to brush away a tear as he nodded. “Nikki hated having to live like that–hell, he told me part of him wanted to off himself before he finally got to the point that he couldn’t handle a firearm anymore.”

“Damn, really?” Doug asked with a wince.

“He was stupid-stubborn about his Independence more often than he wasn’t,” he chuckled. “To be slowly entombed in his own body worse than Mick is right now–that was Hell on Earth for my husband to deal with.”

All of them winced sympathetically.

“I’d seen him like that after a few cases of pneumonia over the Years, and he hated every second of it,” Bobby told them. “But with the pneumonia, he always knew he’d eventually get better–with the CJD, he knew there wasn’t any getting better.”

“Definitely torture for a guy like Nikki,” the guitarist said, nodding Sagely.

“He’d wanted to paint graffiti with his brains before he got to the point that he couldn’t move anymore to avoid that and save the rest of us a shit-ton of suffering,” he continued. “But he didn’t wanna rob his family of what lil Time we’d left with him more, so he decided to suck it up and just wait it out.”

“He sounds like he was a helluva man, Mr. Dall–and I mean that in a good way,” the kid said, gently covering his hand with his own.

“He was, and yeah, it hurt like hell right after he passed,” the bassist told him. “But finding out I’ve a second mate about six weeks before he died helped with getting through the past Year.”

“Well, it’ll certainly be an Honor to be cast to play him in this movie,” Doug swore. “And I hope I can do him Justice, if that’s the case.”

One look between Bobby and the remaining members of Mötley Crüe was all it took to decide on this kid playing the late bassist. He’d the looks and Natural height to pull it off, and there were ways to educate him on the late bassist’s public mannerisms. Not only could he watch old interviews and documentaries on the band, but his widower might be able to get Zach to pop in every once in a while to help him with those mannerisms.

They were interrupted with making plans when Duff walked into the room, their now-four-month-old son throwing a tantrum in his arms. Like any halfway decent parent would, the older bassist changed gears from being a professional businessman to being a concerned mother as he got up and headed over to them.

As it turned out, Ciaran was hungry and refusing a bottle in favor of actually nursing, which he often did when he caught even the slightest whiff of Mama’s scent. Uncaring of Doug watching curiously since he knew he’d see it sooner or later, he unbuttoned his shirt and took his son, glancing down as he got him settled to latch on. Looking back up at him, he couldn’t help a laugh as he felt that familiar greedy suckling and told him that was just one of many things he’d have to get used to, if he was gonna portray Nikki in the band’s bioepic.

The months continued to pass, and before they knew it, the second anniversary of Nikki’s Death, Ciaran’s first birthday, and March of 2020’d arrived. Everybody who’d worked on _The Dirt_ seemed to be completely satisfied, even though they’d to deviate from the book it was based on significantly. Some parts were altered to fit into an hour and a-half-long movie better, others were cut out entirely, but it all eventually came together just like they wanted it to.

Finally, the Night of screening was upon them, and even Zach managed to come back Stateside from Rosalia for the premiere. Bobby was glad to have all his kits with him, knowing it was gonna be hard for him to watch even a portrayal of a lotta events he was actually there for. Even the bout of pneumonia they’d covered up with an accidental heroin overdose was gonna be hard for him to watch.

In the theater where they were gonna be watching the full movie for the first Time, Bobby sat with his younger mate beside him, their son in his lap. Ciaran was already projecting Calming, Soothing Energy to him, still able to sense when he was even remotely upset just like he’d been able to during his pregnancy. His daddy knew how upsetting this movie was bound to be for him, and not only did he reach over to lace their fingers together, he twined their tails, too. The older bassist couldn’t help a smile as he looked over at him, grateful for the support as he was Graced with a quick, but heartfelt kiss after the Lights went down.

Some scenes were harder to watch than others, like when Nikki’s mother’d called him and it’d upset him bad enough to turn to heroin to numb his pain. The older bassist knew by that point his late husband had been clean–he’d gone cold-turkey after they’d realized they were mated. But even still, he’d known how bad he’d wanted his mother’s Love, and that being forced to shoot her between the eyes to stop an unprovoked attack with an axe’d been hard for him. Many didn’t know how shit like that’d affected the supposedly unflappable Neko, but he knew it all too well.

“So, what’d ya think of it, Bobby?” Vince asked after they’d left the theater and headed to a nearby restaurant as a sorta post-premiere celebration.

“I gotta say, it was fuckin’ awesome,” he chuckled, reaching up to wipe away a tear. “Especially Doug’s portrayal of Nikki.”

“Hey, I said the Day that I auditioned that I hoped I did him Justice,” the young actor said.

“Wait, whaddaya mean?” The Welsh man cast to play Mick–Iwan Rheon–looked confused.

“Never told any of the others, huh?” Doug asked, his attention still on the older bassist.

_“Mmm mmm,”_ Bobby hummed, shaking his head as he choked up too much to give a better response.

“Then I won’t unless you’re okay with it,” he swore.

“Go ahead,” the older bassist managed.

Turning to his cast mates, his expression turned downright melancholy. “They haven’t actually edited it into the credits yet, but there’s supposed to be a dedication to Nikki.”

“Damn, we didn’t know that,” Colson–better known as Machine Gun Kelly–said. “But why’s there supposed to be a dedication to him?”

“Guys, Nikki’s actually no longer of this Earth anymore,” Doug said, trying to choose a gentle phrasing, what with his widower right there beside him.

“Wait, what?” Iwan looked shocked. “You’re saying…he’s dead?”

_“Mmm hmm,”_ the older bassist hummed, nodding as Duff wrapped his arm around his shoulders. “Lil over two Years now.”

“Holy shit,” the pair breathed, still shocked as even the rest of the band started to look sad.

“What happened to him, if ya don’t mind my asking?” the Welsh actor asked.

The younger bassist could tell it was too hard for his mate to talk about at the moment, so he sighed as he explained for him.

“Oh, my God,” the lone American actor breathed. “I can’t imagine what that musta been like, man.”

“It certainly wasn’t easy,” the older bassist admitted. “There were a few Times I wanted to kill myself right after he died, it hurt so bad.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said sympathetically. “After almost thirty Years together–hell, I’d prolly be the same way, if it were me.”

“I prolly would, too,” Iwan agreed with a nod.

“But that was why the guys let _me_ handpick who got cast to play Nikki,” Bobby told them with a smile. “They wanted me to have that Honor as his widower and the one most affected by his Death.”

“I’m kinda curious whether the kids got any say or not,” Colson mused.

“We didn’t really care,” Zach told him, speaking on even Lee’s behalf as they all nodded. “We knew that Mom knew him better than anyone besides maybe his surrogate parents, so we trusted his judgment.”

“We knew he’d pick the right guy for the job, or the movie’d never get made,” Lee agreed. “’Cuz Zach’s right–nobody knew our dad better than Bobby did, if ya ask me.”

The pair of actors couldn’t help a smile as they looked at the older bassist, who Returned it before glancing down at his youngest son when he reached up to pat his cheek. Ciaran’s bottom lip was shoved out in the most adorable pout he’d ever seen short of when Nikki wasn’t feeling good as he looked up at him with eyes full of tears. He was quick to hug his kit, gently rubbing his back as he reassured him that Mama was gonna be all right, even if he cried sometimes.

Outta nowhere, the boy turned his attention to the nearest window, a bright smile lighting up his lil face as he saw what sat on the windowsill outside. Even Duff couldn’t help a chuckle as they saw a Cardinal just sitting there, watching the celebration they were having. He could feel the Bird’s desire to join them, but that it was aware it wouldn’t be welcome in the restaurant by many others.

Colson took notice of the Bird and asked what on Earth was so special about it, making Nikki’s widower chuckle softly. The younger bassist explained that a Cardinal seemed to always show up when the late bassist’d a message to pass on, or knew his mate needed his Comfort and support. No doubt he’d known how hard tonight was gonna be, even from the other side, so he’d sent back as much of his Energy as he could manage. Even in the form of a normally-unassuming Bird, the Witches could all feel that Energy, which made them smile as they got his message loud and clear.


	9. Nine

By that Summer, there was a demand for a Mötley Crüe tour the likes of which nobody’d ever seen in decades past. It was mostly due to the sudden influx of new fans the band gained by releasing the bioepic at the End of March, just the second Day of Spring. Unfortunately, none of the remaining members knew how the hell they were gonna pull off such a thing, if they even agreed to attempt it, short of using pre-recorded bass tracks and a hologram of their fallen band mate.

When he got word of the demand and figured out why the guys were hemming and hawing on saying anything about even trying, Bobby stepped up to the plate. He said that maybe it was finally Time they go public with the news of his late husband’s Death, especially since they’d be seeing the third anniversary of it this Autumn. Not only that, but he came up with a possible solution for heading out on tour, should the fans not freak out worse than they thought might be possible for breaking such devastating news.

He knew that Elvin Rikki could easily impersonate Nikki–he’d watched him do it plenty of Times in the Past–and nobody’d be any the wiser. Unfortunately, after the passing of Royal adviser Janus, he’d taken on that particular duty, so he was usually too busy in Rosalia with Zach. But that still didn’t deter his widower from the idea that’d come to mind as he’d sat and thought about this dilemma.

Even before Poison’d gotten big with their sophomore album, he’d sat down and learned all his mate’s riffs outta sheer boredom. Not only did it entertain him, but it gave him something to work on so he could clear his head when he was having trouble coming up with a riff for his own songs. If there was anyone on the Planet besides the Elvin man who could even try to pull this off, it was him–and he was willing to be a bit of a sacrifice, so to speak. He wanted to finally open up to the World about his late husband’s passing, but he still wanted to do him Justice in the only way he could, and that was by putting himself on the spot with his band, if they really wanted to.

“You’re serious about this, Bobby?” Mick asked. The usually-unflappable guitarist actually looked surprised.

“I mean, I haven’t toured since Poison’s _Nothin’ but a Good Time_ tour the Summer after…” he said, biting his lip as he trailed off. “It was literally between his Death and Ciaran’s Birth, and I spent most of that Time grieving.”

“So, this is kinda like taking his place in his Honor, but giving yourself closure, too?” Tommy asked.

“I guess ya could say that, yeah,” the older bassist agreed with a nod. “Nobody but Elvin Rikki and I know his parts well enough to play them in a coma, but Elvin Rikki’s too busy in Rosalia.”

“Yeah, Nikki always seemed beyond stressed when we’d hit the road these last couple decades or so,” the lone blonde in the room agreed. “He’d make sure we always had a show in the capital of whatever country we were playing in, and he’d make sure we got there early enough for him to handle any Royal business the Day before our shows.”

“Definitely sounds like him,” Bobby agreed, chuckling. “He was always a _kill-two-Birds-with-one-Stone_ kinda Cat, for sure.”

“Well, if you’re sure ya wanna do this…” The guitarist gave him a look. “Personally, I’m on board with it. I’ve never mentioned his Death ’cuz I felt you or the kits were the only ones with that right, and knowing what I do about his spinal problems makes my own seem like nothing.”

“I’m game, too,” Vince agreed with a nod.

“I’m all for it–just tell me when and where, and I’ll prove that still no drum machine can out-drum me till it learns how to drink!” the drummer said excitedly.

He couldn’t help but laugh as he recalled Tommy having said that decades ago, and it was still just as funny now. “I’m sure about doing this, guys. Call it cathartic or whatever, but I honestly think it’ll help give me closure, as well as cement it for the fans.”

Reassured that he was certain in his decision, the remains of Mötley said they’d work on setting up an interview in which to disclose Nikki’s Death. Not only that, but they said they’d get to work on finding bands to add to the tour roster as opening acts, which gave him another idea. Bobby told them to let him handle filling two of the slots, and he’d get back to them if he could get everyone involved in such a Hare-brained scheme on board. If he couldn’t manage to get them on board, he’d let the three of them and their crew take over so it could get done.

Closing the door behind them after seeing them out, the older bassist was certainly a bit saddened by the current events, but he was also pretty happy. He hadn’t even thought about Mötley Crüe getting to go back out on tour again after his late husband’s passing, and if he were honest, he hadn’t even really thought about his own band hitting the road again, either.

Most bands separated by Death like this wouldn’t even Dream of recording another album, or embarking on another tour. They usually considered it a taboo once a founding member was dead and gone, like they were dishonoring their memory by trying to move on with someone else. But in this case, even Tommy knew that nothing’d make their fallen band mate happier and prouder wherever he was now than to see them give the band one last hurrah before not-so-quietly fading away.

A week after that conversation with the remains of Mötley, Bobby took a deep breath as he let the makeup artist put the finishing touches on the makeup they insisted he needed. He’d been through this drill plenty of Times before, and even though he didn’t like it, he’d rather not look anemic or otherwise washed-out on-camera. Even still, this woman’s job wasn’t exactly made easy by the fact that he’d Glamoured himself to look old, but his skin still felt as smooth and supple as a twenty-something-Year-old’s did.

Once they’d been through hair and makeup so they looked suitably messy, the older bassist hid in a private dressing room for a few minutes. Ciaran looked confused by his appearance at first, but that confusion was quickly overridden by his hunger when he smelled his milk. Like any other hungry kit, the familiar scent of that and just his mama, in general made him give up trying to fight and latch on.

Maci waited patiently to take her baby brother one he was done and had been burped, her would-be stepdad waiting to escort her mama out. Duff was sitting in on the interview with him and the rest of Mötley, knowing he may or may not break down at one point or another. Living with the oldest bassist’s Death’d certainly gotten easier in the last two and a-half Years, but that still didn’t stop him from getting overwhelmed by his Emotions at Times. Then again, after spending all but a month of thirty Years with him, he’d have been surprised if his mate didn’t get overwhelmed sometimes. But that was the thing about being mated–he was determined to support him, no matter how odd it looked.

Settling on the couch set up for them, Bobby was sammiched between his younger mate and Tommy, who’d always been the closest to his late husband. Mick and Vince settled in a pair of arm chairs set up on either End of the couch, the guitarist wincing as he settled in the one that’d gotten extra padding added to it just for him. He couldn’t help shooting him a sympathetic glance, which made him smile in Return, as they both remembered some of the oldest bassist’s worst Days with his back.

“Well, I think I’ma bit surprised to see Duff McKagan crashing the party,” the guy conducting the interview–whose name was Brett–laughed as he entered the room.

“There’s a reason for it,” the younger, blonde bassist chuckled. “You’re prolly not gonna hear as much outta me, ’cuz I’m really just here for moral support.”

“Oh?” he asked, cocking a brow.

“Well, you’re gonna be surprised by more than one thing that gets revealed today,” Bobby answered, even as he held up their hands to show their interlaced fingers.

_“Oooo…kaaaay,_ then,” Brett said, looking more than a bit confused as he settled in his own seat.

The crew got themselves adjusted, making sure that everything was running smoothly before flashing him a thumbs-up.

“All right, guys,” the interviewer started with a smile. “I’m sure we’re all well aware of how much Success _The Dirt’s_ had since its release on Netflix in March, and what kinda demand for a tour that’s sparked in the past few months.”

All of the gathered musicians kept quiet as he continued.

“Today, I’m sitting down with three-quarters of Mötley Crüe and Bobby Dall of Poison, who’s their special guest,” Brett continued.

Looking into the camera trained on them, they all waved.

“And let’s not forget our last-minute party-crasher, Duff McKagan of Guns n’ fuckin’ Roses!” he said, rounding out his introduction.

Just like the others, Duff raised his hand in a quick wave, his wedding band visible as he laid it back down on his thigh.

“So, what’s the big announcement that’s getting made today, guys?” the interviewer asked, turning his attention to Vince since he was the front man. “Anything to do with those aforementioned demands for another tour?”

“Actually, yeah,” he answered, nodding. “But I’ma let Bobby start this off.”

Mick and Tommy nodded their agreement, giving him dirty looks when he tried to argue the point since the older bassist wasn’t even in this band.

“Don’t try to push it, or we’ll leave without keeping our word,” the guitarist growled, sounding eerily similar to his one-liner from _Dr. Feelgood_. “We all agreed that it’s he who’s the right to open up about this, not us–we’re just here to support him like good friends _should_ be.”

Brett looked surprised, but quickly turned his attention to the brunette bassist.

Taking a deep breath, he finally looked up from his lap for the first Time since he’d waved to the camera. “You’ll have to bear with me, ’cuz this is incredibly hard for me…”

“Yikes, sounds like a doozy,” he said with a wince.

“More than ya know,” Bobby dead-panned before clearing his throat. “I finally decided to sit down and do this particular interview, ’cuz I’m not stupid–just ’cuz _I_ don’t partake in social media doesn’t mean my kits and others close to me don’t.”

The interviewer looked curious, but didn’t so much as motion for him to continue.

“I’ve seen various posts about the movie being dedicated to Nikki in his Honor, and wondering why that was done,” he told him.

“Deep breaths, hon,” Duff whispered in his ear when he’d to pause as he gently squeezed his hand.

“The Truth is–Mötley Crüe technically shouldn’t be going on tour again _ever,_ the contract be damned,” the older bassist said.

“Wait, what?” Brett asked, looking just as surprised as he sounded.

“Right at three Years ago now, Nikki got a diagnosis that was a curveball straight outta left field for all of us who knew him,” Bobby said. “We kept quiet about it, ’cuz–well, the End result of that diagnosis wasn’t good.”

Even Tommy grabbed his free hand at that point, Mick and Vince pushing themselves up outta their chairs to stand behind him. The Melody section of Mötley rested a hand on his shoulder and wrapped their arms around his neck from behind, respectively, as he choked up for a moment. It was pretty obvious to even the camera and Sound crew that whatever was about to be reveal was really, and they meant _really_ bad.

Once he’d Calmed himself enough to continue, the older bassist freed his hand from the drummer’s so he could reach up to brush away a tear. That hand almost immediately found the handfasting necklace he still wore in addition to the engagement-turned-handfasting ring Duff’d given him the Night he’d proposed. Even though a lotta people’d no doubt say wearing something from his previous bond was like a slap in the face to his current partner, it wasn’t any different from his younger mate continuing to wear his wedding band. Well, aside from the fact that Nikki was dead and Susan was still alive, but other than that, it wasn’t any different to either of them.

After taking a deep breath, Bobby finally Began to open up about how he and the oldest bassist’d originally met back in the Summer of ’86. Not long before Poison’s debut album was released, he’d found himself invited to a party that the hostess of wouldn’t give much detail about. He hadn’t known what to expect, but he certainly hadn’t expected to see one of the baddest boys of rock ‘n’ roll in attendance that Night. Only the fact that he’d actually seemed sober for once kept him from flipping his shit when he’d dragged him off to a more deserted area.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting Nikki to admit that not only was he heavily into BDSM, but he regularly Topped folks at these play parties,” he said with a chuckle. “And if somebody’d told me that Night that within a Year, I’d be letting him do shit to me that I wouldn’t even let one of my own band mates do to me, I’d have laughed in their face and called them a fuckin’ liar.”

“Seriously?” Brett asked, shocked.

“Nikki was far more to me than just a friend and musical rival,” the older bassist answered, nodding. “He was my Sir, my lover, my husband, and my mate, among many other things.”

The entire crew’s jaws dropped all at once as he said those things.

“He was my Sir in the kinky sense, ’cuz he’d not only beat me utterly silly– _with_ consent, of course–but he’d make sure I was taken care of during the vulnerable period afterward,” Bobby continued. “He was my rock, my shelter in the Storm, whenever I needed him to be–and I was often the same things and more to him.”

“Holy shit,” the interviewer breathed. “But what about this lover, husband, and mate thing?”

“Remember when he publicly admitted he was a Neko Years ago?” he countered.

“Yeah, I remember that,” Brett answered with a nod. “Gotta say, it was more than a lil freaky to find out he was a Cat-man who’d already lived upwards of a Century.”

“Well, I’m not a Neko–I’m what’s called a Zorro,” the older bassist explained. “Think the Fox counterpart to a Neko, ’cuz everything Nikki explained about Nekos back then applies to me, when ya go with the simple parts.”

“All right, I guess that makes sense,” he said slowly, sounding thoughtful.

Bobby went on to explain the difference between Doms and Fertiles, something his late husband hadn’t done back then since there wasn’t exactly a need for it. Needless to say, the crew was even more shocked when he admitted to being one of the rare male Fertiles, but he knew their shock’d only continue to grow. He still took another deep breath as he moved on to explaining how being mated worked, which was yet another one of the hard parts about today for him.

None of the other musicians were surprised when he actually decided to drop his Glamour, thus proving that he wasn’t aging like the rest of Poison was. Looking into the camera, Chocolate eyes sparkling with unshed tears, he admitted that he and Nikki’d done this to avoid having to answer too many questions they simply weren’t ready to answer.

Even as he left his Glamour down so that he continued to look as young and vibrant as he’d looked thirty Years ago, the older bassist squeezed his younger mate’s hand. Duff Returned the tight squeeze with a gentle one of his own, still keeping quiet as he let his mate do the talking for now. He hadn’t given him that pleading look he knew was begging him to be his physical voice yet, and he was gonna let him continue for as long as he could. That was what they’d all agreed to when they’d decided to set up this interview, and they were all abiding by it now.

“Even though we were play partners and friends, Nikki and I didn’t realize we were actually mated till November of ’87,” Bobby revealed. “He’d made me one of his Powers of Attorney, just in case something happened to him on the road and his grandfather either couldn’t be reached, or simply couldn’t make it to wherever he was.”

“I’m guessing something happened that made ya have to put such an Honor to use?” the interviewer asked.

“Mötley’d already started their leg of the tour that involved GN’R,” he recalled, searching his memory. “I got a call from Nikki’s doctor–who followed his tours, just in case he needed him since Nikki’d a lotta special Health issues–wherein said doctor told me he was being hospitalized for pneumonia.”

“Wait, seriously?” Brett asked, looking surprised.

“Believe it or not, Nikki was a moderate-to-severe asthmatic,” the older bassist answered. “That could allow a simple cold to morph into pneumonia in mere hours, and there were a few Times it actually clinically killed him for a few minutes due to septic shock.”

The entire crew gasped, knowing he’d only know this kinda shit by having witnessed it for himself.

“When I got out to–I think it was North Carolina, I went straight to the VA hospital he’d been taken to,” Bobby continued. “It was while he was laid up in the ICU there that we figured out we were mated, which was a bit of a surprise to us both.”

“How’d ya figure it out, though?” he asked curiously.

Motioning to one of the crew to shine one of their Lights straight into his face, the older bassist closed his eyes just long enough to let Duff’s scent get to him enough to make his eyes shift.

“Holy fuckin’ shit!” said crew cried when he opened them again.

“Dude, that’s insane!” Brett said. “Your eyes look like some kinda Animal’s!”

“A Fox, since that’s what I shift into when I feel like it,” he chuckled. “Kinda like Nikki’s would look like a Cat’s sometimes, considering Nekos shift into Cats.”

“All right–so, a weird shift in both your eyes made ya realize ya were mates,” the interviewer said. “And ya were really together for thirty Years?”

Bobby couldn’t help choking up as he shook his head slightly, squeezing his younger mate’s hand again as he told him they were together for a month shy of that. They’d been together for almost four Years before they decided to handfast, and they’d only made that decision after finding out he was pregnant with their oldest kit. It’d just taken a few months to pull together all the plans for said handfasting, considering their tours and having a newborn.

The older bassist couldn’t help a tender smile as he sifted through decades of memories, recalling stupid things like how Nikki’d dance around the house with a fussy kit just so he could sleep. He also recalled how said Neko’d take care of him when he was sick as a Dog, even if he wasn’t feeling all that great, himself.

As he listened, Brett couldn’t help but notice how he kept talking about his husband in the Past tense, and he finally called him out on it as gently as he could. He was more than a bit surprised when he saw the tears he’d been fighting start slipping down his cheeks, which made Duff grab him for one of the Bear-hugs he knew he needed. Everyone besides the remains of Mötley couldn’t help their shock as they watched him momentarily break down in the arms of what they thought was just another close friend, but was really so much more.

“Ya all right now, man?” the interviewer asked once he’d Calmed down a short Time later.

Not trusting his voice, Bobby simply nodded as he took the tissue held out to him by one of the crew members.

“I’m actually starting to get scared to ask anything else–and that pretty much never happens with me,” he admitted. “After that unexpected breakdown…”

“It was only unexpected to those who haven’t been in the know,” Duff spoke up, still rubbing his back.

“Whaddaya mean, Duff?” Brett asked, turning his attention to him.

The younger bassist simply looked down at his mate, not surprised to see that pleading look now on his face. “Only ’cuz he’s pretty much begging me to be his physical voice am I gonna say it for him.”

Everyone in the room shut up, their full attention riveted on him.

“When he mentioned Nikki getting a diagnosis that wasn’t good earlier, Bobby wasn’t kidding,” he started. “And they didn’t keep it Hidden outta any kinda malice–it was for their own sake to make things as easy of them as they could possibly be.”

“All right,” the interviewer said.

“Nikki was diagnosed with Creuztfeldt-Jakob disease around late-June, early-July of 2017,” Duff continued, explaining exactly what the disease was when the majority of them looked confused.

“Oh, my God,” they breathed in unison.

“I didn’t even know he’d gotten that diagnosis for about six weeks afterward, he and his family kept it so hush-hush,” the younger bassist continued. “Then again, when you’re slowly getting more and more demented and losing Control of your body like that, I guess I wouldn’t want it on public display if I’d been him, either.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Brett agreed with a nod.

He continued with how he’d gotten a call from a close mutual friend who’d managed to find out why the oldest bassist’d fallen off the map after his tour with his side band, Sixx:A.M. Recounting how shocked he’d been to find out that he wasn’t doing good, he explained how he’d told his wife and daughters that they could stay in California or they could join him, but he was going to Rosalia to see his friend for what could very well be the last Time.

Even Duff wasn’t immune to getting a bit Emotional as he recalled the shape he’d seen his friend in once he’d arrived. Laid up in bed and unable to do anything but breathe, blink, and occasionally grunt, Nikki’d been but a shell of the wild, crazy bastard he’d known for so long. He almost didn’t look the same, especially that depressed glint in his eyes that were normally so bright and vibrant with Life.

The crew were shocked when the younger bassist went on to admit that it was the Night he’d seen him for the first Time after his diagnosis that they’d found out about him being mated to Bobby, too. Even though it’d be quite the shock and he hadn’t been at all sure how to process that information, but he’d decided to essentially take an extended vacation. He’d instinctively known the older Zorro could use all the help and support he could get, and even if he hadn’t accepted being mated to him, he’d wanted to give him those things. It was the least he could do in whatever Time the bassist’d left on this plane, especially considering how he’d helped GN’R in some of their earliest Days.

Bobby couldn’t help a few more tears as he let his younger mate recount how he’d bellowed through the house on the Night of _Samhain_ that Year. He leaned against him and rested his head on his shoulder as he recalled tearing through the house with all their collective kids, his wife, and another pair of close friends of the couple. Nobody’d wanted to admit what they were witnessing, even as it unfolded right before their eyes, but there’d been no denying it. Even as he’d tried to deny what he was seeing with his own two eyes, he’d known it was true and there was no unseeing what he’d seen.

“I watched Bobby and the kits–with the exception of my girls, that is–crawl onto that bed and snuggle as close as they could get to him,” Duff said. “His friend–who also goes by Rikki–handed me a camera, and I’ll admit that I could barely see straight enough to see through the viewfinder.”

The older bassist sniffled as he Conjured up the picture in question, glad he’d gotten it blown up enough that even the camera could see it clearly.

“It’s so sweet, but at the same Time, so depressing when ya know the story behind it,” Brett said, sounding like he wanted to cry, himself.

“It was right after I took that picture that Nikki gave each and every one of his family one last adoring look, like he was begging them not to forget him, but not to follow him too soon, either,” he continued. “After that was when he took his final breath, slumped back into that mound of pillows, and died with his final smile on his face.”

Even though they’d known it was coming at this point, the crew couldn’t help gasping at what they were told.

“Oh, my God,” the interviewer choked out, having to motion for a break as even Bobby broke down again.

“I know, hon–I know it still hurts,” Duff murmured, sounding a bit choked-up as he gave him another tight hug.

It took all of them–even the hard-nosed lead guitarist–a few minutes to collect themselves again so that anyone could think straight or speak clearly. During those few minutes, more tissues were used, wadded up, and thrown away than most trash cans saw in a month. Once everyone’d Calmed down again, Brett looked back to the younger bassist since his mate obviously still couldn’t talk.

“Almost as soon as I saw Bobby practically throw himself atop Nikki’s corpse and let out the most heart-wrenching, Soul shattering sob I’d ever heard in my Life–I dunno, man, it was just like something in me snapped,” he said.

“Whaddaya mean, _snapped?”_ the interviewer asked.

“I mean, I’d been on the fence about accepting Bobby as my mate, ’cuz I didn’t really know much about Nekos and Zorros at the Time,” Duff clarified. “But as much as it was like somebody’d just ripped his heart out when Nikki passed, it was like he’d shoved his fist into my chest, clutched it around my heart, and wasn’t ever gonna let go–just like Susan did over twenty Years ago.”

“That’s some serious Emotion there,” Brett mused.

“That’s how it feels to be mated, though,” the older bassist finally said, his voice gritty from his tears. “It’s like being the North End of one magnet, your partner the South End of another–but they’re not just _any_ magnet.”

“Don’t get me wrong–I still love my wife and daughters, so I make it work,” his mate chuckled. “But I’m also not giving Bobby up to anything short of Death, either.”

“Hey, as long as everyone’s aware and consenting, who’re we to judge?” the interviewer laughed.

“I should hope no one is since we never had to make _any_ of this public Knowledge,” Duff chuckled. “We’re just doing it so that some of the choices we make–well, make a lil more sense to those who’re genuinely curious.”

“Well, that more than kinda makes me wonder…” he said as he looked between all of them. “If Nikki’s actually dead, how on Earth’re ya gonna manage to take Mötley Crüe back out on the road?”


	10. Ten

Bobby couldn’t help the downright devilish smirk that curved his lips in response to the question they’d just been asked. Everyone sitting with him cracked up, Tommy just barely managing to get out _If that ain’t Nikki’s devious smirk, I’ll suck my own dick!_ intelligibly. That just made even the younger Zorro and bassist just about die laughing as he choked on the Water he’d been sipping as those words came outta the drummer’s mouth.

Reaching over to clap his younger mate on the back with a laugh of his own, he waited for everyone to Calm down again before he even tried to respond. Even with such sensitive mics clipped to all their collars, anything he tried to say before then woulda no doubt sounded more like Charlie Brown’s teacher to anyone trying to listen.

“Well, that’s the thing,” the older bassist finally said after everyone’d caught their breath. “Nikki was actually so much more of a savant, he was like a walking one-Cat orchestra and symphony put together.”

“Wait, really?” Brett asked, looking surprised.

“If I tried listing everything that Cat played, I’d no doubt leave something out,” he chuckled. “I mean, he played pretty much every string, Wind, Brass, and percussion instrument on the Planet–and better than some other folks in the room, honestly.”

“He really did,” Mick piped up before the interviewer could say anything. “Nikki shoulda been our lead guitarist, but he preferred bass, he could put me to shame that much.”

“Who’re ya kidding, Mick?” the front man laughed. “Remember Poison’s former lead guitarist, Richie? I’ve heard a lotta people say that kid can make a guitar sing like an angel and scream like a demon at the same Time, and Nikki even put _him_ to shame!”

“Holy shit,” he breathed, even his crew shocked by those accounts.

“Needless to say, Nikki always made sure I practiced till I couldn’t feel my hands for a week–sometimes, my entire arms,” Bobby continued. “I mean, no offense since he’s also my mate, but I can even put Duff to shame on GN’R’s shit, eyes closed, when I feel like it.”

“Now this, I gotta hear, hon,” the younger bassist snickered.

Giving him a look, he Conjured up his bass, having preferred his Yamahas over anything else for nearly thirty Years. “Then gimme something to work with, and I’ll put my money where my mouth is.”

“Let’s go with _Nightrain,_ then,” Duff said, now shooting him a smirk of his own.

Tommy couldn’t help but laugh as the older bassist made sure his instrument was tuned to exactly where it needed to be. Poison and GN’R usually kept their shit tuned to the same key, but there were Times that he’d drop-tune another half-step to play a Mötley song. Even though he’d a pretty good memory, there were Times that he’d get distracted by one of the kits needing something, which’d lead to him forgetting to up-tune again before he tried playing one of the former bands’ songs again.

Assured it was tuned to the key he needed, Bobby nodded to his mate since–even though he hadn’t really played drums in decades–he could still count him in. Returning the nod, the blonde tapped his fingers on his shoulder blade to give him his count, the drummer moving behind him to make damn sure he couldn’t see.

Even though he didn’t need anyone’s hand clamped over his eyes, he let his late husband’s _Terror Twin_ get away with it as he ripped into Duff’s riff. Said younger mate hadn’t heard him play this particular riff before, so he was still surprised by how he didn’t miss a single beat, despite being unable to glance down at his fret board the whole Time. His surprise was just a hair less than that of the crew that was amazingly still rolling, all their jaws varying stages of agape as they watched and listened to him play like he’d been the one to write this riff so long ago.

“Well, I think that definitely proves ya can even out-play Duff,” the interviewer laughed as he muted his strings before toeing off the amp he’d been using.

“Hey, I learned from the best,” Bobby chuckled as he sent his rig back home to where it belonged. “Well, I rephrase that to I learned my more advanced tricks from the best, ’cuz I already knew how to play long before Nikki and I met.”

“I’m guessing it standsta reason thatcha can play even Mötley’s catalog like ya wrote it?” he asked.

“Well, _yeeeeaaaah,”_ the older bassist laughed. “Nikki and I were all-Time filling in for each other when and where feasible back in the Day–and if I couldn’t, one of his friends’d fill in for him instead.”

“I actually remember Poison’s _Flesh and Blood_ tour,” one of the cameramen said, his position next to one of the boom mics allowing him to be heard. “Wasn’t Nikki filling in for ya on pretty much everything but interviews during that tour?”

“Yeah, ’cuz I was pregnant with our oldest at the Time,” he answered, nodding. “I tried the first couple weeks, but it was just a lil too much for even me to keep up with. Being a helluva mate and father, he insisted on hitting the road with us just to take care of me after shows, and it Ended up turning into him filling in for me onstage instead.”

“Shows some next-level Dedication, considering how Poison and Mötley were reputed to hate each other back in the Day,” Brett mused.

“We never really hated each other–more like we hated a lotta each others’ habits, especially once Nikki and I got clean,” Bobby corrected him. “He went cold-turkey in ’87 for me, and other than a specialized type of weed for our spinal problems every now and then, he stayed that way till he died.”

“What about you?” the interviewer asked curiously.

“Put the bottle down when I found out I was pregnant with our oldest, and never picked up another one unless I was dumping and tossing it,” he answered. “Nearly killed me and my kit doing that, but luckily and thankfully, we both survived even some pretty nasty delirium tremens.”

Even Duff couldn’t help but wince, having never realized he’d gone through that.

“That being said, if the fans really want Mötley to go out for one last hurrah, as it were–well, it was actually my idea to fill in for Nikki,” the older bassist continued. “Think of it kinda like one last hurrah for them, the final bit of closure needed for me to be able to completely move on.”

Brett admitted that it seemed like he’d already moved on, what with his relationship with the younger bassist, who couldn’t help a smile as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He knew that even his mate’d admit they still had quite a bit to work on between them, even though they were mated and had a kit together on top of his existing marriage. Recovering from such a loss wasn’t gonna be an overnight thing, and he’d known that from the Time he’d found out what was going on with his late friend and gone to see him that final Time.

The older bassist agreed with his mate in saying that, no matter how long they were together and how much of a family came from that, he still had Healing to do. He mighta watched his late husband cross over to his new _Sidhe_ in the Afterlife, but he still missed him to the Ends of the Earth and back. No amount of watching him slowly get worse till he finally passed coulda prepared him for that, now that he looked back on it.

If hitting the road with Mötley to give the fans what they wanted helped him get that closure so he could really and truly move on, he was more than willing to. Not to make it seem like he was trying to take Nikki’s fans–he’d enough of his own from his work with Poison, after all–but to Honor his late husband one last Time.

Even the crew’d to admit as they finally closed out the interview that there was nothing wrong with wanting to Honor the oldest bassist. They knew that a lotta folks’d their own various lil rituals for Honoring their dead loved ones, and maybe this was one of the biggest and most public ones, but it was still the same thing. Bobby couldn’t help a smile as the cameras stopped rolling at about that Time, glad that at least this crew got his reasons for offering himself up as a bit of a sacrifice. However, that smile was a bit short-lived as he heard a cranky screech from the dressing room, an ear already cocking in that Direction before he’d even whirled in his seat to look over the back of the couch.

“I’ll go get him, hon,” Duff said, gently squeezing his shoulder. “Let the Sound guys getcha unwired, ’cuz we both know that shirt’s prolly about to have to come off.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely true,” he chuckled as they both rose and turned off the Sound packs tucked into the backs of their waistbands. “Demanding lil booger shit.”

“Hey, when _aren’t_ babies and toddlers demanding?” the younger bassist laughed.

“Wait, what’re ya talking about?” Brett asked, looking confused as the equally-lost Sound man apprached to get his equipment back.

“Did ya really think I was kidding about my ability to get pregnant?” Bobby countered with a grin. “’Cuz if ya did, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“He’s not kidding, dude,” the drummer chuckled. “I’ve seen him with a punkin thumping on his ribs enough over the Years to know better.”

_“Ma-ma!”_

Turning as he unbuttoned his shirt once the Sound man stepped back, he saw Duff Returning with their cranky son. “Lemme guess–chu wants _Mama milkies_ for nap-nap, huh?”

Ciaran nodded, tears cascading down his lil face as he reached for him from his daddy’s arms.

“Well, c’mere, chu punk,” the older bassist said, gladly taking him. “Chu’s as much a punk as _Daddy_ no doubt was when him was chu age.”

“Well, I’m part-Irish, hon,” he snickered. “Do ya really expect anything but at least a slight rebel outta that kinda blood line?”

Bobby couldn’t help a laugh as he got their son settled into a position so he could latch on once he was settled back on the couch. When he’d found out that his late husband was an Italian–or rather, a Rosalian–he’d expected no less than ornery kits every Time he’d found out he was pregnant. He knew after having dealt with Nikki’s grampa–who’d been a full-blooded Irishman–expecting anything less than a kit who was just as ornery and temperamental when he’d found out about his last pregnancy woulda just been stupid.

Since they were obviously stuck for a bit longer while Ciaran was nursing himself to sleep, the interviewer couldn’t help one last question. All of the crew members including himself were curious about how they’d actually pull a tour off still, and he couldn’t help another devious smirk. Even though he was being dead serious in his response, he still wanted this whole thing to be fun, even for the fans.

The older bassist told them that–if he’d learned nothing else from the late bassist before his untimely demise–he’d learned to be a master strategist. While he wanted to lay all their Secrets out on the table, he also didn’t wanna say too much and have what lil they’d been planning so far blow up in their faces. Despite their excitement for possibly finding out something nobody else’d have access to at this point, they could all understand that mentality. None of them wanted to get their Hopes up, just in case things didn’t work out the way they wanted them to, and wind up being crushed later when any primitive tour announcements’d to be recanted.

Glancing down, he saw that his youngest was nearly asleep, having pulled his unbuttoned shirt around himself like a blanket as much as he possibly could. Even Duff wasn’t immune to a soft chuckle and _awww,_ despite being used to their kit’s behavior ever since he was born. The crew and remains of Mötley certainly couldn’t help soft chuckles of their own, and the latter group was almost as used to it as he and his younger mate were.

“Let’s get this evil lil booger home,” he said once he spit his nipple out. “’Cuz hell, I could use a nap, myself after all that crying today.”

“I’m sure, hon,” the younger bassist agreed, gently taking their son to make sure he burped. “But we both knew this wasn’t gonna be easy for ya.”

“I don’t think discussing the Death of a treasured spouse–especially one you’ve been with for so long–is ever easy for anyone,” Brett told them as he buttoned up his shirt again. “And honestly, if I’d known that was the kinda announcement that was gonna get made today, I might not’ve agreed to such an interview.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it, kid,” Bobby chuckled. “Trust me when I say that even the rest of the Mötley boys know me well enough to know I wouldn’t have even suggested, let alone done it, if I hadn’t wanted to.”

“If you’re sure about that,” he said reluctantly, a slight frown pulling the corners of his mouth down.

“I am,” the older bassist assured him. “Just like I wouldn’t even mention this particular fun fact about GN’R I doubt even Duff knows, if I didn’t wanna.”

“What fun fact?” Duff asked, looking confused.

“All of ya might maintain that _Sweet Child o’ Mine_ came from Slash goofing off with Popcorn, and the lyrics being based on Axl’s former girlfriend, but I know damn good and well it wasn’t,” the older bassist snickered.

“Howddaya know that, Bobby?” Vince asked, sounding just as surprised as everyone else looked.

“’Cuz I’m the one who wrote it–about Nikki,” Bobby answered.

“But Nikki didn’t have blonde hair or blue eyes,” the interviewer said, sounding confused.

_“Au contrare,”_ he chuckled, Conjuring up a picture of his late husband when he’d dropped his Glamours. “Nikki was as Naturally Golden-haired and Sky-eyed as Bret’d like the World to believe he is–he just chose not to show it for personal reasons.”

Everybody–even Mötley’s front man–was surprised when he turned the picture around to reveal a sleepy-eyed Nikki Sixx. Stretched out on the couch of the home they’d lived in at the Time Zach was born, he hadn’t realized he’d dropped his Glamours in his sleep as their son napped on his chest. His widower hadn’t been able to resist snapping the picture, if only ’cuz of the cuteness portrayed by father and son when they hadn’t even meant to.

In it, the typical Raven hair and Jade eyes the World had associated with the infamous bad boy they hadn’t really thought possessed a soft side was replaced by Gold and Sky. They looked every bit as good with his Lightly-tanned flesh as the Colors shown when his hair and eyes were Glamoured, and it was one of the things he’d loved most about him in a physical sense.

Vince couldn’t help a whistle as he said that he finally realized just where several of their kits’d gotten their own blonde hair and blue eyes. After all, Bobby was notoriously Dark-toned, what with his Naturally brown hair and Chocolate eyes, so they couldn’t have gotten it from him. The origins of that pairing’d been a Mystery for decades, and now that the answer was revealed, he wasn’t surprised they wanted to know where his late husband had gotten it. He chuckled as he said that as far as he’d ever known, Nikki’s blood line was actually Etruscan, rather than Roman.

“That high in the Alps, fair coloring’s as common as Darker tones down toward Sicily,” he said. “So honestly, Nikki coulda gone either way, in terms of his Natural coloring.”

“It certainly looks a bit weird after knowing him as having black hair and green eyes for decades,” the interviewer mused. “But I can see why it woulda Inspired a song like _Sweet Child o’ Mine,_ I guess.”

“His eyes always reminded me of bright, clear afternoon Skies–till he was aroused or pissed off, ’cuz they matched the Sea then,” Bobby admitted. “And his hair reminded me of the hay bales on my grandparents’ property that I’d curl up and hide in for naps as a kit when I’d shift.”

“Wait, I thoughtcha grew up in Florida,” one of the cameramen said, sounding confused.

“I didn’t move to Florida till I was nearly ten, no matter whatcha can find online,” the older bassist chuckled. “So I spent a lotta Time with my grandparents, who’d a few Horses they’d to feed somehow.”

_“Ahhhh,”_ they all said with a nod.

“No Wonder ya love Horses as much as ya claim Nikki did,” Duff chuckled.

“Oh, I loved them long before I ever met him,” he admitted. “Now I love them ’cuz of that, and the fact that aside from when he was with me and the kits, he was never happier than when he was in a saddle and galloping down a Mountain at break-neck speed.”

“He was certainly a reckless one more often than not,” Mick said with a fond smile.

As they packed up their stuff so they could all head home, Bobby reminded him of the shit he’d been through before Mötley was even a wet Dream. Having been through all that shit, he wasn’t sure there was anyone on the Planet–Neko, Zorro, or otherwise–who’d have been scared of much. The fact that he’d come to terms with his mortality prolly before any of them were even born woulda made him even less scared of finally dying.

The crew was certainly surprised to find that out as they got ready to leave, the older bassist snuggling his youngest as they all shook hands. Even still, they all agreed that they were looking forward to any Future announcements about a Mötley Crüe tour. However, all of them agreed that it might be a while yet before any such announcements were made as they finally headed back home.


	11. Eleven

Naturally, the entire Planet was shocked pretty much shitless the instant that interview started making the rounds online and in every rock magazine ever published. It seemed as if the World had actually stopped turning much like it’d once seemed during the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, 2001–at least, for those who were old enough to recall the latter event. Bobby didn’t blame the majority of folks for not wanting to believe one of the most notorious bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll was actually dead–he’d watched him die with his own two eyes, and he still didn’t wanna believe it.

With that being said, though, no one was surprised by the sudden influx of fan mail to various PO boxes they’d set up for that very purpose. He certainly wasn’t surprised to even open more than a few envelopes with additional letters fans asked to be passed on to Zach. Nobody could find an address to mail him anything in Rosalia, which’d been done Intentionally, but still wanted to offer their condolences to the young King.

Duff watched his mate scribble out responses to the letters asking for others to be passed on to his oldest stepson as he rocked Ciaran. They both felt that even if no other letter deserved to be dignified with a response, it was those that certainly did. After all, the secondary letters’d technically been addressed to someone else, and they felt their authors deserved to know that they’d be passed on to their Intended recipient. Other than that, there were simply too many for the older bassist to respond to all of them, if he wanted his hand and arm to remain attached. That was what’d led to him having a statement posted on Poison’s website about getting and reading each and every letter sent to him.

It took a few weeks after that interview was filmed, transcribed, and aired, but they continued working on pulling together a tour. Fan demand was higher than ever, now that the public knew exactly why _The Dirt’d_ been dedicated to Nikki like it was. They could understand if nothing could be worked out in their favor, but that didn’t stop them from still wanting it, anywhore.

“We ready for this?” the younger bassist asked.

The entirety of every band they’d gotten to agree to this tour were waiting at SiriusXM’s Hollywood Studios.

“Ready as we’ll ever be, I think,” Vince, Bret, Axl, and his own daughter, Grace, answered in unison.

“Okay, that was just freaky,” CC laughed. “But it was pretty damn cool at the same Time.”

“Just shows how well we know each other, I say,” Bobby chuckled. He was glad that Sirena’d been able to babysit today, even though his youngest certainly hadn’t been happy about it.

Moments after he’d closed his mouth, they got their cues to head out onto the stage that was set up for them. Each band sat so they were grouped together, but the pair of bassists still positioned themselves so they could twine their Glamoured tails. They might not be able to cuddle or hold hands through this particular _joint interview,_ if one would, but they’d be damned if they didn’t have _some_ kinda physical touch during it.

With everyone settled, they waited for any and all reporters to get themselves settled so they could get started with their massive announcement. After all, this was being done as a press conference more so than an interview, so there was more than one person to be lobbing questions at them. No doubt it’d start with the inevitable about wanting Nikki’s Death confirmed, and they weren’t disappointed.

“I think I can safely speak on the behalf of everyone here when I say that I’m still shocked to find out about Nikki,” the first reporter said, her gaze locked on the older bassist. “But I’ve still gotta ask–he’s really dead, and this isn’t just some publicity stunt?”

“He really _is_ dead–three Years, as of Halloween,” Bobby answered, nodding. “It was kinda ironic when he died, considering what that Night meant to all of us who were an immediate part of his Life.”

“Whaddaya mean?” she asked, and he could tell by her tone that she was genuinely curious.

“Halloween Night’s something totally different to the Sixx family ’cuz we’re all born-Witches,” the older bassist answered. “I’m not gonna get into full detail on it, simply ’cuz we don’t have that kinda Time–but to us Pagans, it’s the Night our God dies and Travels into the Spirit Realm.”

Plenty of gasps rang out, even from the rest of GN’R since they hadn’t had this stuff explained to them before.

“Nikki was kinda like the God of our family, and I guess ya could say I was–and still am–like a cross between the God and the Goddess both,” he continued. “When he died, we were all hit pretty hard, but at the same Time, we kept in mind one thing he repeated tons of Times over the Years.”

“And what’s that?” the second reporter asked.

_“Death’s not the End_ – _it’s just the End of a chapter,”_ Bobby quoted his late husband. “Meaning that it was like the End of one chapter of a story and the Beginning of the next. He knew our story wasn’t over as much as we did, even though it certainly felt like it at the Time, and he wanted us to keep writing instead of burning the book, so to speak.”

The entire crowd of reporters let out a collective _awww_ as flash bulbs went off in their faces continuously.

“That said, when Vince, Mick, and Tommy started getting an influx of new fans and demands for another tour–well, they didn’t know what they were gonna do,” the older bassist said.

“We all agreed when we attended Nikki’s funeral over in Rosalia that if anyone’d the right to finally announce his Death, it was his family,” Vince stated.

“Whether it was Bobby, one or several of his kittens, or a joint effort, we didn’t care,” the normally-quiet lead guitarist added.

“But we kept our word about keeping our mouths shut till any of them were ready,” Tommy said.

Waving his hand back to the older bassist, he let him have the table again since what they were announcing’d technically been his idea. Chuckling, he nodded before turning his attention back to the crowd in front of them and took a deep breath. He knew this big announcement was gonna knock more than a few socks off, especially since it was being aired live on SiriusXM’s _Volume_ channel, too.

Bobby couldn’t help a grin as he told the crowd of reporters that he’d offered himself up as a bit of a sacrifice since he knew all of his late husband’s riffs. That caught and held their attention as they instinctively realized that there was far more to it, and they were certainly right. Everyone gasped when he went on to say that–due to his role in Poison, as well–he’d talked his own band into joining him and the remains of Mötley for a co-headlining tour. However, there was even more to it than that, and he couldn’t help wanting to hold them in suspense a bit longer as the rest of those on the stage with him started grinning like utter idiots in their own rights.

Going on to say that he’d also talked GN’R–including former members Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler–into joining them made jaws drop even further. The older bassist paused to give the crowd a moment to digest that, Duff having to bite his wrist to avoid cracking up, much like the others. Only once everyone seemed to’ve processed that did he reveal his reason for picking his younger mate’s band as one of his top choices.

“As I’m sure the World knows now, Duff and I are mated as much as Nikki and I were before my late husband’s passing,” he said.

“Yeah, and that was definitely a shock,” the first reporter admitted, everyone else nodding their agreement.

“Well, what we didn’t say during the interview he crashed a few months ago–he and I’ve a young son together,” Bobby revealed.

He wasn’t surprised by the gasps that rang out, nor the widening of what coulda been hundreds of eyes when he said that.

“That being said, I can’t manage to pull double-duty on performing on top of dragging a toddler across the country,” the older bassist continued. “Besides, as GN’R’s already announced, they’re doing an international tour next Spring, too.”

“I dunno about anyone else with kids, but I love mine too much to wanna get only three months with them before Bobby’s to drag our son off on a tour with him,” Duff spoke up. “And I’ll be honest here–I’d prolly’ve wound up going with him for the quality Time and babysitting aspect, anywhore.”

“So, it just made sense to at least try to get GN’R to be one of our co-headliners,” Mötley’s front man continued. “The fact that we were a big part of what got them their start back in ’87 only added to that.”

“Don’t get us wrong,” Axl said with a grin. “We love the Crüe, even when we hate them.”

“Just as much as we now love Poison, too,” his lead guitarist agreed.

“And to turn down an opportunity to pay tribute to Nikki like this–even I couldn’t say no, and I’d rather throttle Axl more Days than I wouldn’t,” Izzy chuckled.

“But considering what this is about in the grand scheme of things, we’re all willing to put aside any differences to give my late husband one helluva send-off, belated though it may be,” the older bassist said with a chuckle of his own.

They weren’t surprised when questions started getting asked about the fourth band that was on the stage with them, none of its members really looking familiar. Bobby grinned again as he admitted that that one was his idea, too, his mate practically projecting his Pride as he joined his grin. It turned out that this fourth band was fronted by said younger bassist’s older daughter, Grace, and they could stand the boost they’d get from being the opener on this tour.

Asking The Pink Slips to be the opener on this massive tour just seemed as prudent and Natural as getting Poison and GN’R in on it. The older bassist’d felt they needed some seriously tight connections with whoever joined Mötley Crüe, and he remembered how hard it could be to get a fledgling band off the ground at first.

Of course, they’d been told that they didn’t have to join them, if they didn’t wanna ’cuz they really wanted to hit their blast-off point on their own, so to speak. He’d just wanted to offer them a chance to really get noticed, considering the heights that all three of the veteran bands’d soared to at one point or another. None of the members of said fledgling band had been able to refuse, knowing they weren’t likely to get such an offer anywhere else. Still, they–especially Grace–made it clear they weren’t doing it just ’cuz of the father-daughter connection between them and GN’R.

“We grew up on Dad’s Music, as well as that of Poison and Mötley,” she clarified. “But we don’t wanna be seen as riding their coattails just ’cuz of the personal connections.”

“Just like Bobby and Nikki did with their kits, I taught my daughters to work for what they wanted,” the younger bassist said. “Taking a chance like this is a great choice in this industry, but I also understand her reluctance to not wanna seem like they’re riding our coattails.”

“My stepson was the same way back in the Day,” Bobby agreed. “He met Nikki as his dad not long before putting together Mr. Big, and he was hell-bound and determined to make or break it by the merit of his own strong back–or maybe more aptly, that set of pipes he’s got.”

“Sometimes, it just helps to’ve a lil boost, though, right?” the second reporter asked, smiling as he directed his question at Grace.

“Well, yeah–even we’re not dumb enough to deny that,” she laughed. “But there’s still a very–and I mean _very_ –fine line between getting a boost from an already-famous parent, and just being handed my fame _’cuz_ I’m his kid.”

“So, what can we expect outta this tour?” a third reporter asked.

“Definitely all of us joining Forces to take America by Storm,” Bret laughed.

“Seriously, what with Mötley, Poison, and GN’R all hitting the road together for the–well, the first Time ever,” the second reporter cackled.

“We’re still unsure of the lineup, aside from The Pink Slips being the opener and Mötley being the closer,” Tommy said.

“That’s gonna be nailed down within the next month or so, though,” Rikki agreed. “But it’ll be announced before the tour actually kicks off.”

By the Time the press conference was concluded and they all positioned themselves on the stage for some seriously massive group shots, everyone was beyond excited. Even though he knew he might End up pulling even triple-duty at least a few Nights, Bobby couldn’t help the grin plastered on his face as he stood next to Mick and threw up the devil horns.

The Planet’d never seen a tour like this one get discussed as even a tentative idea, let alone actually fleshed out so it’d happen. While they weren’t planning on taking it anywhere but across America as a Summer tour, that might very well Change by the End of it. After all, if there was a high enough demand, maybe they’d add at least a second leg and hit a few spots overseas sometime during the Autumn, Winter, or even next Spring. It’d all just depend on how worn-out these aging rockers were by the Time they hit their current final date in Los Angeles on September fifth.


	12. Twelve

What’d been dubbed as _The Stadium Tour_ ever since its inception in the Summer of 2020 turned out to be a far bigger thing than anticipated. Originally, they’d decided to kick it off at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida on Woden’s Day, July seventh. The stadium in question actually wasn’t very far from where Bobby considered to be his hometown, given that he’d moved to the area around the age of nine since he damn sure didn’t recall being born in Miami.

But due to the unexpected and insanely-high fan demand, they’d been more or less forced to add seven additional dates. The rate at which tickets were selling out at places like the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina and the SunTrust Park in Atlanta, Georgia could only be described as record-breaking. All of the guys preparing to hit the road for this tour knew damn good and well they didn’t necessarily have to add extra dates, but all of them agreed that it wasn’t an altogether bad thing. It gave them extra chances to do Nikki proud, which was their whole Intent when they’d first started discussing the finer points.

Sure, they’d all be keeping a certain amount of the cuts they were paid, considering they were all gonna be busting their asses to earn it. But each member of every band had already agreed to give up the majority of their earnings from this tour to a charity the late bassist’d started, himself. _Running Wild in the Night_ was one of his biggest Prides and Joys outside his family and band, and while it was doing pretty well on its own, they still wanted to donate to it. It wouldn’t keep itself afloat, and none of them really needed all of the exorbitant amounts they were getting paid for this tour.

Even though they’d that verbal agreement between them, Duff and Bobby both insisted it be put into writing, anywhore. They didn’t think their friends’d recant their words later on, considering the overall meaning of this, but they wanted to be damn sure. Holding them to what they’d said with a legally-binding _contract,_ if it could be called that, made perfect sense to all of them.

“Still looking forward to this Summer, hon?” Bobby asked, grinning at his laptop screen. He and his younger mate were in the middle of a Skype call, which’d gotten momentarily interrupted when their son’d decided he wanted to nurse before bed.

 _“Bring it on,”_ the younger bassist laughed. _“Even though Guns is only about to kill off this most recent leg of the_ Not in this Lifetime… _tour and I’m already exhausted from it.”_

“Course you’d have that kinda attitude,” he chuckled, rubbing Ciaran’s back.

 _“Hey, I wouldn’t have pushed the guys to agree to it, if I didn’t,”_ Duff told him. _“Besides, I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d have prolly joined ya on the road just to get Time with Ciaran, anywhore.”_

 _“Mraw?”_ Said son’s ear cocked back toward the laptop as he made a sleepy noise around his mama’s nipple.

 _“Yeah, Daddy misses you, too, lil man,”_ he said, unable to help a tender smile as he watched the kit in question squirm a bit. _“How can Daddy_ not _miss all that cuteness Mama’s getting to himself?”_

“Hey, I’d share it with ya, if I could!” Bobby laughed. “Kinda hard to really share through a webcam, though.”

 _“Well, after our show on the fifth, I’ll be back home for almost two months,”_ the younger bassist sore. _“Then it’s another month out for our tour before we all join Forces for this massive_ Stadium Tour.”

“I’d be lying through my teeth, if I said I wasn’t looking forward to getting part of that month you’re home again with ya,” he admitted. “’Cuz let’s face it–Susan and the girls deserve part of your Time, too, especially as precious as Time really is when ya think about it.”

 _“True, and I won’t deny that,”_ Duff agreed. _“But they’ve also had roughly twenty Years with me already_ – _you’ve a lot to catch up on, and Ciaran’s still pretty young compared to his sisters on my side of the family.”_

The older bassist knew damn good and well his mate’d a good point just as much as he did, which was why he didn’t even try to argue with him. It was a matter of finding a happy Balance for everyone involved, and he wasn’t about to ask him to desert the family he’d built previously just so he and their son could have him all to themselves. Nothing about that kinda demand was fair to anyone, and he’d spent too many Years with Nikki to be anything but as fair and just as his late husband.

It wasn’t long before the younger bassist let out a loud yawn, which he could barely muffle behind his hand as his exhaustion really started to show. Since their son’d already fallen asleep and was just lazily playing with his nipple now, Bobby suggested Ending the call so they could all get some rest. He paused long enough to let him say his good-Nights to their son, as well as himself, but was soon getting up to head to the nursery. This was just one of the hard parts of being in a relationship with another musician, but at least they both understood what the other went through.

Once Ciaran was settled in his crib, his arms wrapped around his lil stuffed Fox and his paci in his mouth, he quietly and gently raised the rail. He couldn’t help the smile on his face as he whispered his own good-Nights to the boy before turning to make sure his baby monitor was turned on. Despite how much he loved his kits, he was glad to finally get some alone Time so he could take care of some personal needs. Besides, it seemed like the lil punk he’d just tucked in for the Night was Intent on him never getting enough sleep, much like his older siblings’d once been. The older bassist’d enjoy the hell outta his sleep once he took care of those personal needs so they didn’t keep him awake for half the Night when he really just wanted to sleep.

But even as he settled into his bed after taking care of those personal needs, Bobby couldn’t help but miss his younger mate still. He’d actually broken down and bought the cologne the blonde typically wore just to spray on the spare pillow next to him, he missed him so much. Then again, that was just part of being mated, especially when one’d to share their mate with anyone else, whether they were also mated to that second partner or not. It was that part that he never could seem to get through the skull of Duff’s wife, but he hadn’t really expected her to get it. She couldn’t feel what they did in regards to the mating pull, even as they both finally fell asleep in two separate places on the Globe.

The next couple months passed by in what felt like warp speed combined with slow motion all at the same Time. Part of Bobby couldn’t wait till the _Stadium Tour_ kicked off so he could Honor one husband while being reunited with the other–in a physical sense, of course–but another part of him was also dreading it. Even though he’d gone longer between tours before, it’d been nearly three Years since the last Time he’d hit the road, and it hadn’t all been _nothin’ but a good Time,_ to make a pun on one of his own songs.

Having been in the earliest months of his pregnancy with Ciaran, it’d been hard for him to actually do his job ’cuz of his Morn sickness. Missing Duff as he’d missed him combined with the loss of the oldest bassist still being so fresh for him hadn’t helped matters. Despite all those things coming together being enough to ruin a tour for just about anyone, he’d still managed to make the best of it.

Looking back on that particular experience in 2018, though, had him a bit leery of Returning to the road, even though it’d been his idea. Then again, this tour was gonna be a lot different from his last one, and in more ways than one’d imagine possible. After all, he’d be on a private bus with his younger mate and said mate’s other spouse–till the other couple wanted a private Night, that is. When that happened, he’d already made sure there was an extra bunk on Poison’s bus that he and Ciaran could crash in so they’d be afforded their privacy. But having said toddler on the road with them was no doubt gonna complicate things, no matter how well they went overall.

Bobby couldn’t help a chuckle as he finished loading his and his youngest’s bags into his Tahoe, which’d be brought back home by Gunner before the young man Returned to Rosalia. Storm Intended to follow in her own truck with his gear, considering he couldn’t get all these bags and his cabinet in his own truck with a car seat in it. He couldn’t lay the seats down like he needed to, but he saw no reason to switch the car seat to his oldest daughter’s truck.

“Got everything, Mom?”

Looking up from closing the hatch, he nodded when he saw his younger stepson. “Yeah, I’ve got everything–and if I don’t, or it’s something I’ma run outta while I’m gone, I’ll just get more while we’re stopped somewhere.”

“Can’t afford to run outta Pull-Ups, huh?” Gunner chuckled, holding his half-brother against his chest as said boy giggled.

“Not unless we want the buses smelling like a giant, rolling litter box!” the older bassist laughed.

“Pretty sure the rest of the guys’d veto that,” Storm giggled.

“So am I, ’cuz I’m already vetoing it, myself,” Bobby agreed. “So, let’s get going before my brothers start blowing up our phones to find out where we are.”

“Sounds good, Mom,” his older stepson agreed, nodding as he moved to get his brother strapped in. He’d called him _Mom_ for as long as they could both remember, considering his own mother’d gotten her parental rights to him stripped away when he was pretty young.

“Just make sure to be careful, Stormie,” he warned as gently as he could. “Even though I’ve the money to replace all of that and then some, I don’t have the Time right now.”

“Ya know the only way your gear’s getting torn up with me’s if someone else T-bones or rear-Ends me,” she chuckled. “Pretty much anything that’s outta my hands to Begin with.”

“I know, but I can’t help but remind ya, anywhore,” the older bassist sighed. “It’s just the mom in me, like it or not.”

Nodding, Storm climbed behind the wheel of her truck, already turning the key to fire it up as she pulled her door shut. He couldn’t help giving her a typical parental look as she seemed like she wasn’t gonna buckle her seat belt at first, rolling his eyes and smirking at the blush that stained her face. She might be a grown woman now, but there were still some things he could do to shame her, and giving her certain looks was just one of them.

Satisfied that his daughter wasn’t gonna be stupid, Bobby climbed behind the wheel of his own truck as his younger stepson closed the back door. Gunner was quick to join him up front so he was riding shotgun, his baby brother strapped in so he was snug, but not uncomfortable. Well, not in the sense of having his lil harness biting into him, considering that _all_ car seats were a bit uncomfortable.

The older bassist was quick to throw his truck in gear, having already told the rest of his kits–even older stepson Lee–goodbye. Still, the group of kits waved from where they’d gathered near the Fountain out front as they watched him get turned around, and he Returned the wave before taking off. He’d miss the hell outta his kits while he was gone, just like he’d always done when he was on tour, but his late husband had been off the road. It just wouldn’t be Natural as their mother _not_ to miss them, kinda like it wasn’t Natural not to miss Duff the past couple months. But missing his younger mate’d soon be remedied once they got to LAX, he and Ciaran settled on their flight to Miami with his band.

After arriving and getting through security, Bobby was glad to hear his flight’s boarding call relatively quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was be stuck in a loud airport waiting area with a toddler that was on the verge of naptime and bound to start pitching a fit. Granted, getting settled in first-class got him some dirty looks, but thankfully, his son didn’t show his ass instead of just snuggling against his side. Said toddler was quick to let out a yawn that made him smile as he buckled them in, his excitement growing as he waited for the plane to start its taxi to the runway.


	13. Thirteen

Landing at MIA in the heart of Miami was certainly more dramatic than finding and getting settled in their seats before taking off from LAX. Amazingly enough, Ciaran’d slept through a lil more than half the flight, which allowed his mama plenty of Time to catch a nap of his own. However, the toddler wasn’t pleased by the turbulence that’d woken him up from that nap, and definitely not as their plane’s wheels hit the runway upon making that landing.

Bobby chose to ignore the dirty looks that got shot at him as he Comforted his son as much as he could while the pilots were essentially stomping their brakes. This was the boy’s first-ever flight to anywhere, and he’d gone through this with his older kits plenty of Times, although that never really made it any easier to bear.

Finally able to disembark once the worst of the crowd had, he snatched up his carry-on, as well as the toddler’s diaper bag. Duff’d texted him before he’d even left his house, saying that he’d be waiting at baggage claim to grab their bags for them. He’d known their son’d no doubt need a trip to the nearest bathroom as soon as they landed, and that his mate’d prolly be able to stand one, too. Neither of them wanted their luggage to go missing in what they called the _airport void,_ though, and since he’d already said he’d be picking them up–well, it only made sense to do anything he could to help his mate, no matter how stupid-simple it seemed.

Sure enough, Ciaran whined almost as soon as they’d gotten into the terminal, one hand reaching down to grab his lil crotch through his britches and Pull-Up. Heaving a soft sigh, the older bassist reassured him that he was heading to the nearest restroom before he headed anywhere else. Thankfully, they’d been working on potty training long enough now that the toddler was able to hold it till then, but only barely. It was still something to celebrate as he held him steady on the toilet seat, and he couldn’t help the broad grin that stretched his face.

“Chu such a big boy!” Bobby said, Pride obviously coloring his tone. “Mama’s proud of chu!”

“Mama pwoud?” he asked, looking a lil uncertain as he helped him back down.

“Sure am,” the older bassist chuckled. “Only big boys can hold it till they make it to a potty like chu did.”

Ciaran couldn’t help giggling and bouncing slightly, hands clapping clumsily as he got him changed into a fresh Pull-Up.

“Now, chu keep chu lil butt parked right there,” he told him, giving him a look from where he stood over where he’d made him sit in the floor. “Chu’s _nuuuu_ the only one who gosta potty now.”

“Mama gon’ bust mah butt, if me runs offs,” the toddler said Sagely, nodding.

“That’s right, ’cuz Mama _nuuuu_ wantsta sees chu gets losted in the airport,” Bobby told him, turning back to the toilet.

_“Nuuuu_ wantsta gets losted,” he whimpered, ears tucking down against his head.

The older bassist couldn’t help a relieved sigh that was crossed with a soft groan as he took care of business, having not realized just how badly he needed to till now. At least he could trust his kit–who turned out to be a Fertile like he was–not to move till he gave him permission to. If there was nothing else to be thankful for, it was that since it’d prevent him from getting abducted for use as a kit mill.

Once he was done and had his fly closed again, he quickly flushed so he could grab his carry-on and the diaper bag. Ciaran obediently grabbed his tail, which he was allowing him to see through the Glamour hiding it from human sight, along with his ears. It didn’t take either of them long to wash up and dry their hands, which was when he picked him up to snuggle against his chest again. Normally, he’d encourage walking as much as he could, but they’d precious lil Time in which to find Duff so he could lead them to their bus.

Said mission to find him didn’t take as long as Bobby’d anticipated, the younger bassist and his wife both waiting for them near baggage claim. Each one held the handle of one of their suitcases, a grin crossing his mate’s face when he saw them approaching. Course, even Susan couldn’t help a grin as she clapped eyes on her stepson, who squealed and reached for his daddy as soon as he spotted him from several feet away.

_“Oooh,_ there’s mah lil man!” he said, gladly taking him.

“Daddy!” the toddler squealed, wrapping his arms around his neck.

“Oh, _nuuuus_ –him’s gots meh!” Duff said dramatically, pretending to choke. “Him’s…too strong… Can’t…fight him…offs…”

“Chu silleh, Daddy!” he giggled as he nuzzled his cheek.

“Chu’s just as silleh, bud,” the younger bassist laughed, kissing his forehead. “I take it the flight wasn’t very eventful?”

“Not till some turbulence woke him up about halfway through,” Bobby answered with a chuckle. “And when the landing gear first hit the runway.”

_“Soooo_ scary, huh, lil man?” Susan asked, gently stroking his chubby lil cheek.

“Uh, huh–scawy,” Ciaran answered, whimpering softly.

“Hey, is otays, bud,” he told him as he gently rubbed his ear. “We’re back on the ground now, even though we’re a long way from home.”

“And Daddy’s not gonna let anything happen to ya,” Duff promised. “You’re gonna be safe on our bus we me, Mama, and Mama Sue–and when you’re not on our bus, you’re gonna be on your Uncle Bret’s bus with him.”

“Unca Bwet?” the toddler asked, looking around. “Whewe Unca Bwet?”

“We gosta go meet him and the rest of the guys,” he answered. “They’re waiting with the buses since chu and Mama took longer to get here than we did.”

Even Bobby wasn’t immune to another chuckle as he grabbed the handle of the suitcase his mate’d been holding, which turned out to be his own. No doubt he’d gotten some alone Time with his wife already in anticipation of not letting their son outta his sight for at least a couple Days. But that was part of being a touring musician, as well as a parent–one missed their kits when they were gone, and wanted to practically smother them with Love and attention upon their Return.

Their walk to the buses didn’t take very long, but Duff couldn’t help goofing off with the toddler snuggled against his chest. He was ecstatic to be reunited with all but his younger daughter–well, if one didn’t count his stepkits–since Mae was at college in New York. It’d been far too long since he’d really gotten any Time with his family, as far as he was concerned, and it was Time to remedy that.

As soon as they got within eyesight of the bus, the bassists weren’t surprised to hear excited greetings get called out to them. Obviously, the rest of the bands they were touring with this Summer were glad to see the older of the couple and Ciaran’d made it in one piece. Even still, it was pretty obvious that the GN’R guys were just as tired as the younger of the pair since they’d been on tour all Spring, too. No doubt they’d really be enjoying their off-Time once they killed off the _Stadium Tour_ in early-September and they all got to go back home, at least for a while.

“Glad to see ya got here in one piece,” Izzy said once they were close enough to avoid yelling at each other–well, what the human guitarist thought was close enough, that is.

“We’re glad to _be_ here in one piece–or maybe I should be saying two,” the older bassist laughed as he shot a pointed look at Ciaran.

“He didn’t give ya any problems on the way out here, did he?” Bret asked, looking ready to scold his lil _nephew_.

“Other than when we hit a lil bit of turbulence that woke him up from his mid-flight nap and when the landing gear first hit the runway, not a lick,” he answered, grinning proudly. “Even kept his tush parked right in the bathroom floor where I put him so I could take my own potty break.”

“Got him trained pretty damn well,” GN’R’s rhythm guitarist chuckled.

_“Damn!”_ the toddler repeated, a grin on his face.

“Hey, chu look Mama in the eyes,” Bobby growled, knowing his younger mate was about to be more than a lil shocked.

Realizing he was in trouble, his eyes widened and his ears flattened against his head as he whimpered softly.

“We don’t say words like that at your age ’cuz is ugly,” he told him, a no-nonsense tone coloring his voice. “Chu’s _nuuuu_ getting punished this Time ’cuz chu’s _nuuuu_ been told not to, but if Mama hears one more ugly word come outta chu moufie, chu’s getting puppy noms and vinegar for a week, got it?”

_“Nuuuu_ wants puppeh noms!” Ciaran cried, making a disgusted face. _“Nuuuu_ ’mells good!”

“Won’t that hurt him?” Slash asked, looking just as surprised as all but the remains of Mötley and his own band.

“Not in the slightest,” the older bassist answered. “He’s part-Fox, remember? Foxes’re part of the canine family, and we’re built to eat some weird stuff when compared to humans.”

“Wait, seriously?” This came from GN’R’s drummer, who looked downright shocked.

“Dude, remember all the Times Nikki’d be eating Dog biscuits, and you’d swear they were actually cookies that were just baked in the shape of a Dog biscuit?” Tommy snickered.

“Yeah, I remem–wait, those were _actually_ Dog biscuits?” he asked, jaw dropping.

_“Mmm hmm,”_ Bobby hummed. “Ya never saw ’em hurt _that_ nut, so what makes ya think Dog and Cat food’s gonna hurt even Ciaran, despite the obvious age difference?”

Even Susan looked like she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to believe him, all of GN’R and The Pink Slips wondering where on Earth he’d have gotten the idea for such a punishment. As he took his son from Duff, he kept the detail to a minimum as he revealed that his late husband had been abused as a kitten. He deemed most of what he went through too much for most people–especially a toddler–but said that even without his Past addictions, it was a Wonder he’d been even half-sane by the Time they met, considering the Emotional trauma he’d possessed.

Having been through that, Nikki made it a point _not_ to do things that’d ultimately lead to him being no better than his own parents. Being a former Marine who’d served the country of his Birth for a hundred and five Years’d also pounded a certain sense of Discipline into his head. Their mutual interest in BDSM only added to that mentality even further than those two things already combined did.

Well he knew the difference between Discipline and abuse as a result of all that, so the late bassist’d always made it a point to come up with some pretty unorthodox punishments for most shit the kits did to get in trouble. Instead of beating them with a belt–aside from the worst of the worst, when it came to their offenses, that is–he preferred things like making them clean grout lines with toothpicks and mucking Horse stalls with a soup spoon. Cussing before a certain age earned them Cat or Dog food and vinegar for a week instead of getting their mouths mashed, or the simple threat of washing their mouths out with soap since that almost never worked.

Nobody could really deny that they’d prolly think twice about cussing when they weren’t supposed to, if they’d that kinda potential punishment looming over their heads. If there was one thing the oldest bassist’d been before his untimely demise, it was certainly Creative, and Bobby’d be the first to admit that. He’d also be the first to admit that such parenting techniques’d freaked him out at first, but once he’d seen how effective they really were, he couldn’t argue the point anymore.

“So, you’ve actually seen those kinda punishments at work?” Grace asked curiously.

Since Bret looked like he was about to head inside for a minute, he gestured for him to take Ciaran with him, the blonde nodding and gladly taking him.

“To answer your question, though–yeah, I’ve seen them at work,” the older bassist answered.

Everybody’s attention was riveted on him as he chuckled.

“One Time when Zach and Gunner were about seven, they heard Nikki cussing one of his guitars out,” Bobby started. “We didn’t realize it till they both got pissed at one of their toys and screamed, _Son of a shit-sucking, rotten son of a still-fuckin’ whore!_ outta nowhere.”

“Holy shit,” Izzy laughed. “Even _my_ mouth’s never been quite _that_ filthy!”

“Oh, Nikki didn’t just have a potty mouth–his mouth was a full fuckin’ sewer,” he laughed. “But needless to say, he nearly blew a gasket when he heard that come outta the boys’ mouths at such a young age.”

“Hence the Cat food and vinegar treatment,” Slash chuckled.

“Exactly, ’cuz he tried washing their mouths out with soap first–and that worked about as well as another hole in the head, to be quite honest,” the older bassist answered.

“And since he didn’t wanna turn into an abusive ass, he’d to come up with something else,” Duff said thoughtfully, starting to get it.

“Yepper, and we found out pretty quick that a week of Cat or Dog food and vinegar to wash it down is pretty effective for cleaning up a kit’s potty mouth,” Bobby said with a nod. “It’s not like the choice in fare’s gonna hurt them–it’s just nasty to the palette, which makes them think twice about repeating such an offense in the Future.”

“And _really_ makes them think, instead of terrorizing them with a beating,” Rikki agreed. “Which’s the whole point in doling out a punishment, if ya ask me.”

“God knows I kinda Wish I could do the same thing to Vallon sometimes,” Poison’s lead guitarist chuckled. “That boy drives me up a wall, and I can’t get nearly as Creative with my punishments so I won’t make him get sick.”

“Actually, ya _could_ give him that kinda punishment, C–ya just couldn’t do it for a full week, three squares a Day, like I can with my kits,” Bobby snickered.

“Oh, don’t fuckin’ tempt us, man!” he crowed with a grin. “Those of us with minors in the house’ll actually do it, if ya tempt us too much!”

The entire group couldn’t help cracking up since they all knew such a declaration was true as Bret Returned with the toddler snuggled in his arms. Even as he cocked a brow curiously, he looked every bit the dad he’d been for twenty-one Years as he rejoined the group. Promising to fill him in once they were outta earshot of the lil guy, Rikki and CC headed onto Poison’s bus so they could head for their first venue of this tour.

Duff gladly took his son back, not wanting to let go of him for shit, now that they were reunited again for the second Time this Year. Said toddler _mrawed_ happily as he snuggled against his daddy, who couldn’t help a stupid grin as he headed off to his family’s private bus. Even his wife and mate weren’t immune to grins as they followed in his wake, pulling suitcases behind them to load up.

On their bus, Bobby chuckled as he told Susan that he wouldn’t be surprised if he wound up pulling triple duty as bassist for the first few Days. Knowing their shared husband better and for far longer at this point, she couldn’t help a giggle of her own as she helped him get their bags stowed. The younger bassist’d always been like this when he was first reunited with Grace and Mae after a tour, so she’d have been surprised if he _hadn’t_ practically stolen Ciaran. In fact, she’d be surprised if he didn’t shirk his Responsibility as bassist for the first two or three Days, what with that combined with how exhausted he was from his Spring tour, too.

Given that the older bassist knew even GN’R’s most popular songs, he didn’t mind pulling triple duty every once in a while. But even _he_ was gonna get worn-down and need a break eventually, which’d leave his younger mate as the one pulling triple duty. For the moment, though, they were content with that arrangement, ’cuz what mattered was that the show go on and Nikki be Honored as close to as planned as possible. In addition, they all knew it’d take the first week or so to fully iron out any kinks and get their machine running without needing additional oil and maintenance, so to speak.


	14. Fourteen

Everyone involved in this massive co-headlining tour couldn’t have been happier when it kicked off without a hitch. Well, they coulda been a shit-ton happier, if Nikki’d still been with them to participate–but given the circumstances, that was a smaller matter. Nothing coulda gone according to any kinda plan, rather than falling into place in a domino effect of the good persuasion.

Bobby hadn’t been any more surprised than either of the other two veteran bands when he’d wound up pulling triple duty as bassist, just like he’d suspected. Not even Slash or Izzy could deny how much his younger mate adored their son, not to mention just needed a bit of a break. They’d been running hard, wide open, and sideways for long enough that–in all Honesty–they’d been expecting something like this to happen months ago. However, if there was one thing the GN’R bassist was known for, it was his grit and Determination, much like his Poison and Mötley Crüe equivalents.

Getting to perform with not only his late husband’s band, but that of his current husband was an Honor and a rush like no other he’d ever experienced. He’d jokingly said in the Past that getting onstage was better than sex–which’d been a lie, considering what a lover Nikki was–but this was another Animal altogether. Actually, this wasn’t just a totally different Animal–this was a totally different Dragon than what he was used to dealing with.

Upon getting backstage after that third show, the older bassist’d been exhausted and so sweaty, he looked like he’d gone swimming with his clothes on. Duff’d almost immediately shoved him down onto a couch, having woken up from the nap he and their son’d been taking about a quarter of the way through Poison’s set. He’d watched how much fun his mate had with his own band, then with GN’R before rounding out with the late bassist’s band. While he’d tried to stay as hydrated as he possibly could for pulling triple duty, he was still dehydrated after such a performance. By the Time he got offstage, even he was starting to wonder if he was on the verge of a heatstroke since he needed to adjust.

“You’re definitely _not_ pulling triple duty like that again,” the younger bassist said, a bit of an admonishing tone to his voice. “And if ya do, it won’t be three Nights in a row like this again.”

“Hey, I’m not arguing that,” Bobby managed to chuckle, letting him drape cool, soaked towels over his nekkid torso. “I’m still dizzy from no doubt being dehydrated.”

“Then we oughta start a round of fluidsta play it safe, sir.”

Looking up, the pair of bassists saw one of the medics hired by their crews’d walked over with his gear loaded onto a stretcher.

“Ugh, be glad I wanna live to see another Sunrise,” he groaned as he held out his arm. “’Cuz trust me when I say I fuckin’ hate needles as bad as my late husband did, maybe worse.”

“Really, now?” his younger mate asked, sounding a bit surprised as their bands backed up to give the guy room to work.

“Never liked them as a kit, and I guess it traumatized me more than I thought,” the older bassist answered, having to look away as the medic tied off his arm. “Watching Nikki mainline back in the Day before he got clean no doubt didn’t help that, either.”

“Yeah, I don’t suppose it would,” Duff agreed, gently gripping his free hand. “Just focus on me, though, hon.”

Nodding, he kept his gaze locked on those hazel eyes, but he still couldn’t help a wince as he felt the needle go into his elbow.

“Hey, think about it like this,” the younger bassist said. “Gotta have the extra fluid since we’re still working on getting Ciaran weaned.”

“Gods, I’ll be glad when _that_ finally happens!” Bobby laughed. “I mean, I love him and all, but I _don’t_ love my chest being so damn tender!”

Nobody from the group of musicians could help a laugh at that, even as his mate’s wife agreed with him based on her memories of nursing. They weren’t quite sure who’d have had it worse, considering that she’d a lot more tissue–not to mention implants–pulling on her upper torso, but it still couldn’t have been very comfortable either way.

Duff gently brushed his mate’s hair back and kissed his forehead as the medic got that round of fluids running wide open. He didn’t care that he smelled like a rotten gym bag–which he could smell a lot more strongly than before the Shroud his dad had cast on him’d been broken. All he cared about was his mate getting rehydrated so that he was healthy, whether he continued nursing their son or not. Seeing what he’d gone through when his late husband had first passed made him dread the Day that the older bassist eventually went to join said Cat on the other side.

It didn’t take long for Bobby to start perking up a bit more, the medic making him sit still to check his temp as the fluids kept running. He couldn’t help rolling his eyes as he took his vitals in addition to those things, but he knew it was for his own good. Thankfully, his vitals were back into a far more normal range and while still a hair elevated, his temp’d no doubt come down significantly from what it’d been as soon as he got offstage.

After the fluids’d fully transfused and the bag was empty, the older bassist was finally cleared to go back to his bus so he could get some rest. His mate promised to make sure he got that rest, the glint in his eyes saying he’d work himself into his own grave in a couple different ways, if he needed to. Their collective band mates couldn’t help cackling as they picked up on his unspoken _even if I’ve to fuck him silly before I dump a gallon of Water down his throat_. Even Susan couldn’t help a giggle as she took in the determined look on their shared husband’s face, a look she knew all too well. Once he got that look on his face, there was nothing that’d stop or slow him unless he was dying, himself.

“Let’s getcha back to the bus, hon,” he said, gently helping him up.

“I’ll take Ciaran back to Poison’s bus,” his wife told them, still giggling as she grinned.

“Ya don’t have to do that, sweetheart,” Duff responded with an eye-roll. “I’d rather not push him beyond his breaking point.”

“Maybe not, but I also know how ya get better than ya think I do,” she retorted. “Ya haven’t seen him in a month, and you’ve already got your Time with me lately.”

The entire crowd backstage, even Bobby, cracked up when he flushed a deep shade of red from his hairline all the way down to the V-neck of his shirt.

“Hey, relax,” the older bassist chuckled. “’Cuz maybe I _wanna_ be pushed almost to a breaking point.”

“Oh, really?” he asked, cocking a brow at him.

 _“Mmmm,”_ Bobby hummed, gasping when his hand darted out to grab him by the hair at his nape in an all-too-familiar motion. _“M-Mraw!”_

“Is that so, huh?” the younger bassist chuckled, a sultry note starting to color his voice as he used the Dominant move Elvin Rikki’d taught him against his mate. “Maybe Ciaran spending the Night with his uncles and Mama Sue _is_ a good idea.”

His mate couldn’t do anything but pant harshly as the medic removed the IV from his arm, his eyes already glazing over in anticipation.

“What the hell?” Izzy asked, looking as surprised as the rest of GN’R.

“Remember what we said about not discussing certain things in front of kids?” CC countered. “Well, you’re getting a first-hand look at the tamer End.”

“Trust us when we say they’ll get wild enough that you’d think Duff’s gonna kill Bobby by the End of the Night,” Poison’s drummer laughed.

“Wait, they’re kinky freaks?” This came from Axl, who’d never known his bassist to be like that.

“I’ve always had a bit of an interest,” Duff answered, still staring his mate in the eye. “Just never really explored it ’cuz Sue’s what we call vanilla.”

“And that’s another reason their being mated works for us,” said wife told them with a smile. “He doesn’t have to feel deprived in favor of not pushing me too far, ’cuz Bobby’s tastes can get a lil wilder than you’d think.”

“Nikki’s…were crazier…than mine,” the older bassist managed, groaning as his mate pulled his hair gently. _“Mraw_ –I’m sorry, Sir!”

“That’s more like it, pet,” he chuckled, relaxing his grip on his hair. “Ya know you’re under high protocol now.”

Nodding, Bobby headed off to their family bus once he let go of his hair and sent him off with a good smack across the rump. Ciaran was already asleep in his Uncle Rikki’s arms, so he didn’t pause to tell him good Night since he wouldn’t hear him and he didn’t wanna get in trouble with his Sir. Since he didn’t mind voyeurs when it came to scenes, his mate watched him leave before turning to his band since they were really the only clueless ones.

The remains of GN’R were more than a lil surprised when he said they could watch up to any point that out-and-out sex even got mentioned. It was only if it got mentioned that they were getting thrown out in the front lounge, if the buses’d already taken off for their next venue. Neither bassist liked even the Thought of having a voyeur when they were actually going at it, which was common.

Deciding that they wanted to see just what the hell he was about to do to the older bassist, the quartet followed the younger bassist back to his bus. Waiting in the back lounge next to the lone bedroom, his mate knelt in the middle of the floor, but that wasn’t the surprising part. Seeing him completely nude, head bowed like he was praying, and his hands resting palm-up on his thighs was more of a surprise to them than anything. Course, they were even more surprised that he didn’t so much as try to peek up till their giant Irishman of a friend let out a certain growl.

“Suede, leather, or chain–how much can my lil Fox take in pain?” Duff asked once he looked up at him from where he knelt.

“Suede, Sir,” he answered. “Too sore from the shows to take even leather right now.”

“Good pet,” the younger bassist said, kneeling down to scratch his ears. “We using the rope, too?”

Bobby’s eyes widened in anticipation as he nodded eagerly. “Yes, Sir.”

“Then I better get to work on those cuffs, _hmm?”_ he chuckled, rising back to his full height of six-three.

 _“Mraaaaw.”_ The older bassist’s eyes seemed to glaze over even more than they already were before he quite literally shook off the Fog Clouding his brain.

“What on Earth?” Axl breathed as they watched.

“First Time watching a scene, huh?”

Startled, the quartet jumped and spun to see another man leaning against the back lounge door, a smirk on his face, arms crossed over his chest, and legs crossed at the ankle.

“Perfect Timing, Rikki,” Duff chuckled as he measured out the rope he needed.

“Yea, so I see,” the strange man responded with a chuckle of his own. “Ya know I don’t mind popping in to DM.”

“DM?” Izzy asked.

“Dungeon Monitor,” he answered. “Basically, keep an eye on their scene and make sure nothing goes wrong so I can stop Duff before it gets too outta hand, if need be.”

 _“Ohhhh,”_ they chorused as they nodded.

“Name’s Rikki, by the way.” He moved to gently help the older bassist up once his mate was ready for him. “I’m the Elf they’ve no doubt mentioned a few Times–well, one of them since my wife’d be the other.”

“Damn, you’re seriously Elvin?” Steven asked, eyes wide with an almost-childlike Wonder.

“Yea,” Rikki answered, tying his hair up–which revealed his pointed ears.

They were all fascinated as they watched the younger bassist start fashioning some kinda restraints around Bobby’s wrists with the rope in his hands. As he wound the rope around itself to Create what almost looked like a bar between his wrists, he explained what he was doing. He was tying what was called double-column cuffs, which the Elvin man’d shown him how to do when they first started playing since his mate liked these better than Metal cuffs.

As long as they used the right type, the rope didn’t so much as leave rope burn, no matter how hard he pulled on it during a scene. Not only that, but it wouldn’t cut off circulation nearly as bad while he was pulling on it, as long as it wasn’t tied too tight to start with. Judging by the look on the older bassist’s face, they could tell he was already liking what was being done to him and didn’t argue.

Rikki gently directed the quartet over to the couch, which he’d pulled back with his magick to make plenty of Space for the couple. Duff used his height to his advantage as he reached up to thread the rope through an eye bolt in the ceiling of the bus, which answered their question of what the hell it was there for. Grinning as he gave the rope a good yank, he laughed when his mate let out a surprised yelp as his arms were jerked over his head. That action wasn’t meant to hurt him or anything, but to bring him back from the brink that he was already getting close to from memories of Past scenes, both with himself and with Nikki.

He vaguely heard the Elf explaining what he was really doing to Bobby as he looked said mate in the eyes once again. Something didn’t feel quite right to him, but he wasn’t gonna say anything aloud till he got a better read on the situation to avoid scaring his friends. Utilizing the mental link with said Elf, he told him exactly what he was feeling as the words that came outta his mouth questioned his mate about limits and safe words. Even their friend frowned slightly when it took him a few moments longer than it normally would to answer him.

 _You’re right, kit_ – _something’s definitely_ off, he said in their mental link.

 _It’s almost like_ – _well, shit,_ Duff thought, his eyes widening as he caught something he hadn’t noticed in the past few minutes.

 _What is it?_ the Elvin man asked, straightening from where he’d been leaning against the wall.

 _I think he’s about to go into heat, man,_ the younger bassist answered. _I haven’t caught this Change in his scent since right before the heat that set in when Ciaran was conceived._

 _Consider him Shielded, then,_ Rikki chuckled, a certain Light glittering around them moments later.

 _“M-Mraw!”_ Bobby couldn’t help shivering and squirming as he felt the Elf’s powerful magick, although his mind was beyond Cloudy right now.

“What’s going on?” Axl asked from where the rest of GN’R watched.

“Let’s just say that I’ll be the one pulling triple duty for a while unless Rikki’s able to help us out,” Duff chuckled.

“What–why?” his rhythm guitarist asked, sounding curious and surprised.

“’Cuz Bobby’s going into heat, and he’s gonna be absolutely worthless for at least a week,” he laughed.

“Wait, seriously?” Even Slash sounded surprised.

“I’ll explain it once I get him thoroughly worn out,” the younger bassist promised. “But for now, I gotta get him knocked out for at least a lil while, or you’re gonna wind up with an eyeful.”

His band let out a collective disgusted groan as he laughed, moving to gently warm his mate up for the flogging he knew he wanted. Bobby jumped a lil more than he normally would from a gentle smack to his ass, another _Mraw!_ flying outta his mouth that usually wouldn’t have when he was under high protocol. The higher his sensitivity got, the less he’d be able to Control himself, but that couldn’t exactly be helped once a Fertile went into heat.

Duff trailed the flies of the flogger he was handed by the Elvin DM up and down his mate’s back, carefully watching his reactions. He wasn’t surprised by the older bassist already starting to arch and pull at his restraints from just that simple, gentle action. No doubt his sensitivity was already high enough that just caressing his cheek’d damn near send him flying through the roof.

The first couple licks he gave him startled Axl, Slash, Izzy, and Steven, who watched with wide eyes as he zeroed in on him with laser focus. It was kinda startling to see the younger bassist focus on something or someone so much, but Rikki chuckled softly and assured them that was a good thing. That made his job as DM a lot easier, ’cuz that meant he was paying attention to his sub’s reactions so he could act appropriately to each one, good or bad. He’d trained him the same way he’d once trained Nikki in the Art of Topping, and while he wasn’t nearly as experienced as the late bassist, he was still decent enough at it.

As Bobby got more and more wound up–which was evidenced in the obvious boner he was soon sporting–he couldn’t stay still to save his Life. His Awareness was pretty much nil as his heat fully set in, which his mate and the Elf could tell by how he started to dry-hump the Air in front of him. He didn’t behave like that unless he was in heat, ’cuz even he’d a lil more Pride and Dignity than to do so for any other reason. That helped with pushing him over the edge, though, one last lick to his ass setting off his orgasm so hard, he screamed as his eyes rolled back.

“Holy shit!” Slash cried, startled by the sudden hoarse and Animalistic scream.

Even Izzy couldn’t help his quick movements, the poor guy falling over the back of the couch in his haste to jump back so he wouldn’t be hit by any of the older bassist’s load.

“Sorry, guys,” his mate chuckled as he started winding him down. “We’ve played together before, but not when he was in heat, so it was a bit of a learning curve for even me.”

“Yea, ’cuz while I coulda told ya, there’re some things thatcha need to learn on your own,” the Elvin man laughed.

 _“M-Mra_ – _Mraaaaw.”_ Poor Bobby looked like he’d collapse at any moment, if the rope tied to the bus ceiling got untied, his knees were shaking so hard.

“Is he gonna be okay?” the drummer asked, shoving his wild blonde curls back so he could see.

“He’ll be fine eventually,” Rikki answered, nodding. “For now, best to get him tied to the bed unless he passes out by the Time we get him down.”

“Wait, really?” the lone ginger asked, shocked.

“Child, ya don’t wanna know what could potentially happen, if he’s allowed to roam around unsupervised while in heat,” he told them matter-of-factly. “Even as his mate, Duff wouldn’t wanna know beyond being able to better protect him.”

Duff couldn’t help a shiver, something innate telling him what he was talking about. “I’ma assume thatcha mean him being abducted to be used as a mill, right?”

“As much as I’ma assume ya just _Knew_ what I meant,” the Elvin man told him. “’Cuz I don’t recall Bobby ever telling ya that part, and I know damn good and well Nikki never got the chance unless he cracked into your mind again when I was unaware.”

“One of those gut feelings I can’t explain, but knew _had_ to be true,” he answered.

“Then I’ll explain that part more in-depth once we get him settled for the Night,” Rikki said, bracing himself in front of the older bassist.

Nodding, he quickly untied the rope from the eye bolt in the ceiling, not surprised his mate simply collapsed against the other man. He’d have looked like he was out cold, if he hadn’t cracked his Fox-like eyes open as his landing stimulated him due to his hypersensitivity. Add in no doubt catching notes of honey drifting through the Air, and it woulda been enough to wake him up a bit, for sure.

They managed to get Bobby tied to the bed with only one hand free, and he wasn’t surprised by the pleading _Mraw!_ he let out. Knowing it’d help settle him down so he could escape for a bit, he crawled over him and knelt so he could lean down to kiss him. If not for some serious Self-Control, his bucking up to grind on him as much as he could woulda left the younger bassist in a bit of a pickle. Catching his unique blend of Lotus and Lily was already arousing on a normal Day, but his pheromones from being in heat were starting to get to him, too.

Once his mate passed out from his exhaustion, Duff made sure his vitals were still at least decent–even though that made him shiver and whimper–before heading back to the back lounge. He shot a pleading look of his own at the Elvin man, who chuckled and let his magick wrap around him in a gentle, glittery Light. There was no way he’d made it through even half of this explanation, if he didn’t get him to spell his nose so it was temporarily outta order, so to speak.

“Holy–what on Earth was that?” Izzy asked, his eyes wide as he stared at the giant of a blonde.

“Rikki helping me out before I lose my shit,” he answered with a chuckle as he sat down.

“Wait, really?” the guitarist asked. “How was he helping ya out?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed the weird ears and tail I didn’t have back in the eighties,” Duff said with a grin.

“The ears, yeah–but what tail’re ya talking about?” he asked, looking confused.

Sitting up and pulling the appendage he could see out from behind him, he realized the guys must not be able to see it when they cocked their brows at him. “Damn, I forgot I’d Glamoured it…”

Mere seconds later, four shocked gasps rang out as he dropped that Glamour to reveal a bushy tail a few shades Lighter than his hair.

“Holy shit, dude!” Steven cried. “Where the hell’d that thing come from?”

“My Ancestry,” the younger bassist laughed. “Just like Bobby’s ears and tail did.”

“Oh, yeah–didn’t he say something about being a Zorro in that interview where Nikki’s Death was finally revealed publicly?” the lead guitarist asked.

“He did, yeah,” Duff answered, nodding. “And as it turns out, I’ma quarter Zorro, myself.”

“Wait, really?” The drummer looked surprised.

“Turns out my mom’s half-Zorro like Bobby’s kits–she’s just half-human instead of half-Neko,” he answered. “But my dad Shrouded me with his D’Anu magick when I was too lil to remember it ’cuz he was ashamed to have a freak of a son when I showed the Zorro traits.”

“Well, that’s fuckin’ shitty.” Even Axl rolled his eyes. “I mean, yeah–it’s a lil weird to see after knowing ya as a human all these Years, but it’s not like it’s anything ya can truly Change about yourself.”

“Our Thoughts exactly, child,” Rikki spoke up. “Hence why I taught Nikki how to Glamour himself to appear human, which he later taught Bobby, and so on and so forth.”

“I’m guessing it’s a pretty easy form of magick?” Izzy asked.

“Eh, Glamours’re more or less intermediate–depends on the practitioner’s experience for the most part,” he answered. “The more experience, the more Power that’s generally wielded, and they’re easier to cast and maintain when one wields more Power.”

The younger bassist nodded as he Conjured up that old picture of Nikki when his Glamours’d dropped in his sleep to reveal his Natural hair and eye Colors. His band mates were surprised to see him as a Sky-eyed Golden blonde after all the decades of seeing him with Raven hair and Jade eyes, much like the rest of the Planet. Laughing, he told him that it was hard enough to Glamour his ears and tail so they’d stay hidden consistently–it’d take him a lot more practice to manage Glamours like these to Change their Color, along with the rest of his hair altogether.

Duff wasn’t surprised when the rhythm guitarist shot him a curious look when he asked what he’d meant about the Elvin man helping him out before he lost his shit. That just made him laugh again before explaining the difference between Doms and Fertiles, and he was glad that his friends and band mates’d always been pretty smart cookies.

“That being said, if he didn’t–well, I’d be embarrassing myself all over the place, if I could think straight at all,” he told them.

“Seriously?” Axl asked, looking surprised.

“Being a Dom, Bobby’s pheromones–or those of _any_ Fertile, for that matter–in the middle of a heat get to me on an instinctive level,” the younger bassist explained.

“So, it’s not exactly something ya can smell, butcha still pick up on it?” the rhythm guitarist asked.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Duff answered, nodding. “Like any other Animal, I pick up on it with my olfactory sense. If I were to be constantly inhaling all those pheromones without my nose temporarily rendered outta order, I’d be sitting here with at least a boner from Hell.”

“Damn, that’s gotta suck,” Steven laughed.

“Oh, it does, considering that I already wanted to go jump him just from having been separated for the last month,” he chuckled. “Him going into heat right fuckin’ now, of all Times, just makes that worse for me.”

The rest of GN’R cocked their heads like curious puppies as they cocked their brows.

“As a Dom, I’ve found out that I can go into heat, too–just not for the same reasons, or on as consistant a basis,” the younger bassist explained. “I just barely managed to avoid that before we all met up for this mega tour, but it wasn’t easy.”

“Wait, seriously?” Izzy asked, his eyes widening in shock.

Nodding, Duff explained what Rikki and Bobby’d told him about how the late bassist’d get, if he allowed a Dom heat to wind up triggered. He couldn’t help a wince of his own as he explained, unable to imagine being totally desperate for sex for a week straight aside from a few lucid moments interspersed. Another thing he couldn’t imagine was even the potential for coming outta that and finding out that his balls were tied into knots, as it were.

Chuckling, the Elvin man explained what he’d meant when he’d chosen that phrasing due to the group of humans looking confused. It wasn’t the organs, themselves that’d get knotted up, but rather the tubing leading to them that did it almost every Time. The cause was generally having too many orgasms back-to-back, which’d cause that tubing to tie itself in knots when the balls dropped back down after an orgasm. And in the midst of a heat, he wasn’t likely to pay attention to any pain he felt unless he was having one of those lucid moments, which wouldn’t last long before he was desperate again.

Even Slash–who tended to be the Calmest and most collected outta this particular group–couldn’t help a wince as he cupped himself. The younger bassist laughed, telling them that he felt the same way before turning to look over his shoulder, his ear cocking toward the bedroom. It took a few moments, but even the humans soon heard Bobby’s whimpers as he no doubt started servicing himself.

“Well, damn–that sure didn’t last long, did it?” the rhythm guitarist asked.

“It never does, child,” Rikki chuckled. “He’ll sleep in short bursts–anywhere from a few minutes to a couple hours at a Time–for the next week.”

“Yeesh,” Axl winced, shooting a sympathetic look at his bassist. “Dude, I feel sorry for ya.”

“Hey, I’m not stupid enough to go at it constantly,” Duff laughed. “That’s why we’re keeping him tied down with only one hand free when he can’t be watched like a Hawk.”

“Yea, children,” the Elvin man agreed. “He won’t try to free himself till his heat Ends, ’cuz his instincts’ll be screaming to get his rocks off, so he’ll focus on that over anything else.”

“At leastcha know he’ll stay outta trouble,” Izzy said.

“Pretty much,” the younger bassist agreed. “Rikki told me that Nikki used to do this to him all the Time when he didn’t feel like going at it for whatever reason, and it worked well enough in the Past.”

“Pneumonia, his sugar acting up, raw crotch–the causes for even Nikki not wanting to go at it were pretty much Endless,” said Elf chuckled when he started to ask what he meant. “’Cuz let’s face it–horn-Cat though he often was, even _that_ Cat needed a break sometimes, no matter how much he loved and wanted to help him.”

“I guess that makes sense,” the lead guitarist said thoughtfully. “I doubt I’d be able to go at it constantly for a week without hurting myself, at the least.”

“And speaking of–don’t just barge into the bedroom, if ya knock and don’t get an answer,” Duff said. “I’ma get Rikki to soundproof the bedroom since we’re moving to spare your Sanity, but that spell works both ways–ya won’t be able to hear us out here, but _we_ won’t be able to hear _you_ in there.”

“Wait, really?” Steven asked, looking surprised.

“Yea, child,” Rikki answered with a nod. “He’s not nearly practiced enough for soundproofing and temporarily rendering senses useless.”

“I’m kinda scared to ask how much practice and experience you’ve got, if ya can do those things, but he can’t,” the drummer admitted.

“Over a Millennium,” he told them with a smirk. “Nikki woulda been a hundred and seventy-one in December of this Year, and my birthday’s right at a month before his.”

“Damn, really?” Izzy looked as surprised as his band mates.

“Yea, I’ll be turning _eleven_ hundred and seventy-one this Autumn,” the Elvin man answered. “We, Elves stop aging at twenty, and only three things–none of which I’m telling even Duff–can kill us. All other attempts just piss us off and bring out our sadistic sides, if one doesn’t know how to actually kill us.”

“Note to Self–don’t fuck with the guy who could prolly turn me into ash just by looking at me,” Slash chuckled, although he sounded a bit nervous.

“Nay, not turn into ash–I prefer making hearts explode within one’s breast,” Rikki snickered. “’Tis more fun to watch the victim think they’re having a heart attack, even as the blood pours outta their mouth and down their front.”

Duff couldn’t help an out-and-out cackle as his band mates all momentarily freaked at the Thought of him making their hearts explode. They all grabbed their chests as if trying to instinctively protect said organs, which just made him laugh harder as he pushed himself up off the couch. He reminded them of how just and fair Nikki was before his Death, grinning as he told them the late bassist’d gotten that mentality from this man and his wife as a kitten. As long as they behaved themselves and didn’t push his buttons any worse than he was sure their late friend did, they’d be perfectly fine.

The Elvin man nodded his agreement, telling them it took a lot to truly piss him off after the shit he’d put up with outta Nikki for over a Century. Helping his wife raise their dozen Elvlings in all but one of his eleven-plus Centuries before that’d only extended the fuse on his temper. Sometimes having such a long fuse wasn’t good, ’cuz that just made him more sadistic once he finally snapped, but it wasn’t a wholly bad thing since he didn’t fly off the handle as quick, either.

Heading into the bedroom, the younger bassist made sure the door was closed, locked, and barricaded as he soundproofed the room for him. Bobby was a needy mess on the bed, apparently having managed to get himself off once while they were explaining things to the guys. Judging by his still-raging boner, though, he could use at least a single round between the sheets, maybe more. What with having been deprived of him for the last month, the younger bassist was more than happy to oblige by that–at least, for a lil while. He’d eventually have to get some sleep so he could keep going, not to mention take breaks before he tied his own balls into knots.

By the Time he’d worn the older bassist out enough to pass out for a while longer, he couldn’t help but think how lucky he was. Not many people could say they’d two spouses simultaneously, one who’d live for over a Century alongside them, like he could. Duff sighed happily as he snuggled his hypersensitive mate, who _mrawed_ softly in his sleep, content to just enjoy their Time together while they had it.


	15. Fifteen

Just as predicted, it took Bobby roughly a week for his heat to End due to his hormone levels dropping, his fertile period finally over. The poor guy couldn’t help a wince when he woke and pushed himself up into a sitting position, his pelvis and crotch insanely sore. He just barely realized he was in the bedroom of the family bus, his brain still pretty foggy as he rubbed the sleep outta his eyes.

Duff gently closed the door behind him, having come in to check on his mate again since he’d left him to get some more sleep a couple hours ago. He approached the bed with Caution when he saw him sitting up, unsure if he was gonna try jumping his bones again once he was within arm’s reach. Such an action couldn’t be blamed on anything but his outta-Control hormones for the past week, but he still wanted to be able to brace himself. At least then, he could make sure he landed on the bed instead of busting his ass on the floor at the foot of it like he’d already done a couple Times.

_“Mraw?”_ The older bassist cocked a brow when he looked up and noticed him.

“Ya back with me now, hon?” he countered, his own brow cocked.

“Back with–whaddaya mean?” Bobby asked, looking confused. “Didn’t realize I’d ever left since we’re on tour.”

“Not physically,” the younger bassist chuckled. “But mentally–eh, I’m pretty sure ya were on a totally different Planet.”

“Wha–” he started to ask, cutting himself off as his eyes widened. “Wait a minute…”

Duff merely settled on the edge of the bed and rubbed one of his ears.

_“Mraw_ –did I go into heat?” the older bassist asked, leaning his head into the gentle touch.

“First one since Ciaran was born,” he chuckled, nodding. “Maybe that’s why it seemed to hitcha so hard.”

“They always hit pretty hard, if I haven’t had one in a while,” Bobby admitted sheepishly. “Fuck, what about the tour?”

“I pulled triple duty for three of the shows, Rikki filled in for both of us on the others,” the younger bassist answered. “We just told the crowds thatcha needed a few extra Nights off from pulling double duty and taking care of a toddler wearing ya out a lil more than expected.”

“At least there’s that,” he sighed, leaning against him. “’Cuz while the World might know I’ma Zorro Fertile, that doesn’t mean I want them knowing I go into heat–or rather, _when_ I do.”

“I don’t blame ya, hon,” Duff laughed. “Ya were pretty fuckin’ wild that first Night.”

Groaning, the older bassist playfully socked him in the chest, even as he grinned at him while moving to get up. Just ’cuz he’d been completely outta his mind–really no better than if he’d been whacked out on coke–didn’t mean he’d to tease him overmuch about it. Then again, his younger mate’d never seen him in heat when it was the first one following a pregnancy and nursing a kit for at least a Year, which generally staved off his heat even longer.

Chuckling as he helped him up, Duff made sure he didn’t fall on his way to their tiny on-board bathroom since he was pretty wobbly. It was something he’d expected to happen by the Time he snapped outta this heat, considering he’d been abed for a week. All the orgasms he’d wound up having over the course of that week no doubt woulda made his knees even shakier than normal.

The younger bassist gave him a quick kiss before saying he was gonna go get started on coffee for them since he hadn’t woken up from his own nap but an hour or so before him. Nodding, Bobby waited till the door was closed to settle on the toilet, promising to at least use their mental link to get his attention, if he needed him. At least then, he wouldn’t have to bellow at the top of his lungs and hope the bedroom wasn’t soundproofed so he’d hear him up in the kitchenette. He’d hear him in his head like he’d heard Nikki, Rikki, and Sirena in his own for decades due to mental links shared with them that they often utilized.

After a quick whore bath at the sink, he managed to get out to the bedroom so he could dig through his suitcase. He’d no plans of even trying to wash his hair till they got to either a hotel or a venue, whichever they were currently on their way to. Considering how much he’d no doubt been sweating, it was gonna take a lot more Water than the bus’ tank held to get him completely clean again. Such a long shower’d kill their Water supply faster than it needed to be, and besides, the Water didn’t stay nearly hot enough for long enough.

_“Oooh,_ shit,” Bobby winced as he made it to the kitchenette.

“Ya all right, man?”

Looking up, he saw Izzy sitting on the couch with Ciaran in his lap. “Just a lil sore, but nothing I can’t handle.”

_“Mama!”_ the toddler cried, his face lighting up.

“Hey there, lil man,” the older bassist chuckled, flopping down on the couch next to them. “Chu behaving for Daddy and Uncle Izzy?”

_“Uh, huh!”_ Ciaran nodded emphatically. “Said Mama _nuuuu_ felt goods, and being good boy’d help!”

Bobby couldn’t help cocking a brow at his mate, who let out a chuckle of his own.

“We told him Mama’d a feel-bad bug that was making his head hurt,” the younger bassist told him. “Being good and quiet so Mama could sleep’d help him get better so he could spend Time and play with him again.”

“Eh, not too far off the mark, unfortunately.” He couldn’t help a tired smile, even if he’d tried. “My head _does_ kinda hurt, but considering the last week, it’s pretty normal.”

“Really?” the rhythm guitarist asked, letting the toddler in his lap crawl into his mama’s.

“All the–ahem, activity tendsta keep my blood pressure elevated,” Bobby answered, nodding. “Not dangerously high or anything, but enough to trigger a headache. Add in the lack of sleep and food, not to mention getting dehydrated…”

“Ah, yeah–I can see how that’d make just about anyone’s head hurt,” he agreed with a nod of his own.

“Then down the hatch,” Duff said, handing him a mug and two white pills.

“Better be Excedrin, hon,” he told him as he took them.

“Do ya really think I’m giving ya anything else fresh outta a heat?” the younger bassist laughed. “I’m not even sure that _miracle tea_ could keep ya from being ornery for the next Day and a-half, if I tried that instead.”

“Good boy,” Bobby snickered before popping the pills into his mouth and washing them down with his coffee.

“I swear–ya two’re downright adorable, and it’s enough to make any guy jealous,” the rhythm guitarist chuckled.

He couldn’t help laughing as Duff playfully denied being adorable, his mate swearing that he didn’t look nearly as adorable as he’d looked in his twenties. That made both of them crack up, considering that having his biological clock rewound when he’d accepted being mated had made him look like he was between twenty and twenty-five again. It was a running joke between them and the rest of Poison, so they might as well get the rest of GN’R in on it, too.

Even Izzy couldn’t help laughing at their playful banter, swearing he’d do just about anything to be in his fifties and still look like he was in his twenties like them. But as a human, he knew damn good and well he’d never get that chance without finding out he was mated to a Neko or Zorro himself, which he highly doubted would happen.

That earned him a bit of a serious look from Bobby as he was told not to ever put anything past the Universe. After all, said older bassist’d never expected to find out he was mated to one of the baddest boys in rock ‘n’ roll when he was a kit. He certainly hadn’t ever expected to build a family that bordered on being a rock ‘n’ roll Dynasty with him, that much was for sure. Sure, the same thing could still happen with his younger mate since they’d no doubt live for at least another Century, but he wasn’t banking on it. The younger bassist’d still likely die before him, ’cuz while his Lifespan mighta been slated to be around a hundred, he didn’t think he’d live much longer, even in being mated to him.

Looking at it like that, the rhythm guitarist couldn’t help but admit that he’d a very valid point that such a thing might even happen to himself. Who knew exactly what the Future held for him, ’cuz he’d been anticipating being in GN’R till the Day he died back when they’d first formed the band. Considering what’d really wound up happening, maybe he _should_ start keeping his mind a lil more open like Pagans were known for doing, even though he wasn’t Pagan. He might just wind up surprised with what he got, if he quit allowing himself to suffer from tunnel vision on a lotta shit.

“See, that’s the kinda outlook ya need to have,” Duff chuckled. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting to find out I was mated to Bobby after knowing him–or at least, knowing _of_ him–for so long. But now, we’re not only mated, but so much more.”

“Mates, spouses, play partners–pretty much everything that Nikki and I ever were,” his mate agreed, _mrawing_ happily when he settled on the couch arm next to him.

“Even we dunno exactly where our Lives’re gonna go, especially if and when we ever retire from our bands,” the younger bassist admitted. “We’re more or less just taking it Day-by-Day and letting the surprises come as they will.”

“Can’t say there’s a worse game plan, honestly,” Izzy chuckled. “Well, aside from denying that you’re mated for any reason but just wanting your privacy.”

“Shit, not having Duff right after Nikki died woulda been the End of me,” Bobby admitted. “I’ve never really been suicidal, even though I’ll be the first to admit my Life wasn’t always the best.”

“But there were honestly Times I worried that I’d wake up to find out he’d done something drastic,” his mate agreed. “And I think the only thing besides his kits that stopped him was having me.”

“Was it _really_ that bad?” the rhythm guitarist asked with a wince.

“Yeah, it was,” he answered, his Chocolate eyes Darkening a bit as he nodded. “Then again, Nikki and I were practically joined at the hip for a month shy of thirty Years.”

“Don’tcha think _you’d_ be pretty torn up, if ya lost someone after that long when you’d had _that_ kinda connection all that Time?” Duff asked.

“Okay, yeah–I’d be a liar, if I said I prolly wouldn’t,” he admitted.

Since this was their second of four Days off between their show at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee and the next at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, they just enjoyed getting to sit around and hang out. Izzy couldn’t help laughing as he watched the pair of bassists turn into oversized kits to entertain their son, who was absolutely adorable. Watching them with the boy, he could tell they loved him as much as they loved each other and what they’d chosen to do for a living.

At one point, Bobby wound up leaning over on his mate, Ciaran stretched out across their laps after having fallen asleep for his nap. He couldn’t help a content sigh as he played with the boy’s bushy lil tail, his mate gently rubbing his ears as he slept peacefully. Even with the rhythm guitarist as a witness, he couldn’t help the heartfelt words that soon drifted from his lips.

Duff couldn’t help a smile as he told him that he’d never’ve imagined his Life taking all the twists and turns that it’d taken over the Years. While he still Wished his late husband was here to be a part of it with them, he was looking forward to everything the coming Years threw at them. After all, it wasn’t every Day that a Neko or Zorro lost one mate and got Graced with another, especially so soon after losing that first. They were both some pretty lucky Foxes, but if he were honest about it, he’d say he was the luckier of the two, and he never wanted that to Change.


End file.
